Dysfunctional Family
by TheEighthDeadlySin
Summary: The Souma branch of America extend an invitation to their relatives in Japan to spend the summer with them. They learn quickly that they are very different from each other. Calamity and general chaos ensues. Eventual KyouxOC YukixOC
1. Hatori!

It was a beautiful early morning. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and if you looked closely you might still be able to see some dew glistening on the grass. Summer had just begun. Plenty of children and adults alike were already outside taking advantage of the wonderful weather.

Shia was definitely NOT one of those people. Shirubi sighed, knowing her twins habits only too well. She wouldn't be waking up for several more hours. Shia had stayed up almost until sunrise again playing M.A.G., claiming her S.V.E.R. comrades needed her. This mission was serious business. Not that Shirubi would normally care, she enjoyed long all nighters playing World of Warcraft herself. They were both night owls and preferred to sleep in, however Shirubi handled mornings MUCH better than Shia did. Shia tends to acquire beast like qualities when woken before she would like. Shirubi just shuffles around similar to a zombie for a while.

Today, however, was an important day. For today was the arrival of the entire side of their family from Japan. The guest rooms had already been tidied up. They lived in quite the house for only the two of them; in fact calling it a house is being very modest. Their family was indeed wealthy and enjoyed flaunting it. Shirubi was becoming increasingly irritated though because they're supposed to meet the family at the airport in two hours, and it would take at least an hour just to make it there.

Judging by the way Shia slept on, she forgot; another one of her charming qualities. Shirubi needed a way to wake her up quickly, without losing a limb. As soon as she thought of the family again she knew exactly what she needed to do. The only family member they had met from the Japan branch was Hatori, and Shia ADORED him. She absolutely despises doctors, but for some reason isn't bothered by Hatori in the slightest. He had been their family doctor since Shirubi could remember, but living and taking care of the family in Japan, he could only make it once a year for checkups. As Shia grew older, she refused to see any other doctor, so he ended up dropping in four times a year. This year he has only been able to manage one trip because his family head has been ill. Shia anticipates his visits with so much joy sometimes Shirubi worries she might spontaneously combust.

That being said, Shirubi crept into the lair of the beast, careful not to wake the sleeping dragon until she got near enough. As soon as she was next to her bed, she called her name.

"Shia, time to wake up. Shiiaaa…" Something akin to the growl of a puma was heard as the beast stirred from her slumber. Shirubi had to make her move fast; the time was now to ensure her safety. "If you don't get up now we're going to be late to pick up Hatori." Shia was out of bed so fast Shirubi was worried for a moment a hurricane had come through.

After an exhilarating whirlwind of Shia getting ready at record speed, they both exited their home and approached one of the limos waiting outside. They were soon on their way to the airport, followed closely by the second limo. As 14 people would be making the journey back with them, only one might be a bit cramped. Shia was repeatedly bouncing in her seat at the moment, squeaking and giggling in excitement.

"Shia will you chill out? You're giving me motion sickness." She said, laughing a little at her enthusiasm. "Oh my god this is so exciting, I get to spend the entire summer with Haa-san!" Shirubi gave her a stern look. "Now don't forget there's going to be 13 other people living with us too. You can't just ignore them all for Hatori; they're your family as well." Shia rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I know you've said it a million times…" Shia sighed and leaned against the window. "Hey, this summer's going to be great. I'm sure by the end you won't want any of them to leave." "Yeah yeah, we'll see. As long as they don't get in my way." "Shia, don't start, everything is going to be awesome." The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, each staring out at the passing scenery.

"Music?" "PLEASE!" Shirubi begged, silent car rides were always boring. Shia plugged her Zune into the port above her and blasted the music, as the two of them danced ridiculously in their seats for the remainder of the ride.

Once arriving at the airport they told their drivers to wait out front, and they proceeded inside. They began to check the flight information on a large screen, looking for the correct flight number. "Haa-san said 6438 right?" "Uh huh. Where is it?" Shirubi was growing impatient again along with her sister. Finally the board rolled over and 6438 appeared. "Flight 6438 Tokyo, Japan to Cleveland, Ohio due to arrive at 9:32am at Gate G." Shirubi read aloud for her vertically impaired sister. "It's 9:19 right now. Let's go find Gate G!" Shia said, skipping down the airport. "Shia! Wait!" she yelled running after her.

When they made it to the gates they began to look between each side, going up the alphabet until they reached G. "We've still got nine minutes, might as well sit and wait." Shirubi said sitting down, Shia plopping next to her and absent mindedly tapping her feet and watching the runway from the window. "What do you think they'll be like?" "Not sure, I hope they're not like their family head though, Hatori says he can be pretty bad sometimes." Shirubi recalled. "He's coming too, right?" "Unfortunately, but you know it couldn't be any other way." "He better mind himself while he's here or he's answering to me. I'm not taking his shit." Shia said threateningly, though there was no one present to threaten just yet. "Shia! The plane!" She turned quickly toward the window to see a plane making its way into the gate. "Now remember Shia, you have to at least TRY to be nice to them. Okay? Try. Also, please don't jump on Hatori the minute you see him, I'm sure he's exhausted as is and we don't want to be rude to the rest of the family. Got it?" Shia nodded quickly and Shirubi wondered if she even listened to anything she just said. People began filing out of the plane and heading in their own directions. Shia was jumping up and down in attempt to see over the heads of everyone exiting.

It only took another 20 seconds or so to finally recognize the tall man with his dress shirt and pants, looking business as usual. Shia grinned widely as he spotted them and began to lead a large group over to them. 'Maybe she was listening.'

"HATORI!"

'Nope.'


	2. This Was Not in the Handbook

**Author's Note: Thank you LightningStar and miss-latina for reviewing. It always motivates me to write more when people review.**

"HATORI!" Shia said in excitement, hugging me around my waist, a hug which I gladly returned. "Shia!" I heard Shirubi say exasperatedly. I looked up towards her and smiled, letting her know it was fine. I had come to expect these kinds of things from Shia long ago. "I'm so glad you're finally here! This is going to be the best summer ever!" She beamed up at me like a child. "Please excuse her, she tends to have a one track mind when she gets over excited." Shirubi said to the rest of the family. "That's Shia and I'm Shirubi. It's a pleasure to finally meet all of you." Shia had at this point let go of me and nodded curtly towards everyone else. It was slightly unnerving; I had almost forgotten how she puts up a rough façade towards people she didn't trust.

Yuki went on to introduce everyone to Shia and Shirubi. "The pleasure is all ours Shirubi-san. Please, let me introduce us all. This is Momiji, Kyou, Ayame, Shigure, Ritsu, Kagura, Hiro, Kisa, Isuzu, Kureno, Hatsuharu, and this is the head of our family, Akito." He gestured to each in turn as he introduced them, some of them smiling, others not so much.

* * *

I stayed standing next to Hatori examining them all as Shirubi shook a few of their hands. I could already tell from first impressions that this was going to be one hell of a summer. I tend to unintentionally give off a mean vibe to people I don't trust, so you must understand I was incredibly surprised when the blonde boy approached me. What's worse is he seemed to be about 10 years old and he was already almost as tall as me. That really irritated me. "Hi Shia-san! I'm Momiji! This summer is going to be so much fun! I hope we become best friends!" I just looked at him slightly bewildered and took a step back because he had come too close for comfort. He was about to go on more about god knows what, when my sister spared me.

"Why don't we all go get your luggage and we can continue conversation on the ride home, it's going to be a long one." Everyone began following Shirubi to pick up their luggage, chit chatting amongst themselves. Luckily the little blonde boy was talking to an older boy with the gnarliest hair I've ever seen. It was white on top and black on the bottom. The dude had his ears pierced and he was wearing black leather pants and a grey t-shirt. His jewelry was awesome too and he seemed to have a pretty laid back personality. He and I definitely share a similar style and I could definitely see myself being friends with this guy.

I kept my pace with Hatori as looked up at him. I still have no idea what it is, but he and I had just clicked from the very beginning. Hell I don't even remember the beginning, all I know is I could trust him with my life. There's just this strange bond that the both of us feel toward each other, and neither of us know why. It's weird because he and I are polar opposites in personality. You would never guess by meeting us individually that we are so close. He glanced down at me and smiled when he saw me looking. I smiled back and linked my arm around his. He was like my older brother, and my best friend. Shirubi thinks it's because we share the same zodiac that we feel so bonded to each other.

* * *

As we approached the luggage pick up I looked over my shoulder to make sure Shia was alright. Too many people she didn't trust could cause a problem if they all bombarded her. I smiled when I saw her bringing up the rear, arms linked with Hatori. I swear it's because they share the same zodiac that they're so close. As long as Hatori was with her, she would be just fine. He would make sure all the new people didn't overwhelm her. I wonder if when I meet the one who shares my zodiac we'll share the same bond? I turned back to the conversation I was having with Yuki. He was really sweet and polite. We were talking about the basics like how old we are, what year we are in school, etc. Turns out he's 18, a year older than Shia and I, and also entering his senior year in high school this fall.

We waited for their luggage to circulate around to us and made sure to grab everything. It wasn't until after all the luggage was brought together in one place that I realized how much there really was. I can't believe I didn't think about how much luggage 14 people traveling for the whole summer would have. "Shirubi-san, you didn't plan for this much luggage did you?" Yuki asked when he saw my expression at all of the bags at my feet. "Eh heh…." I rubbed the back of my head. "There should be a van out front with the cars by the time we get out there" Shia piped in. "I called for one a few minutes ago." "Heh, thanks Shia, I'm glad you pay attention to details." "Can we please go home now?" Shia said, picking up one of Hatori's bags and walking towards the front doors where our limos would be waiting.

* * *

We all followed Shia-san and Shirubi-san through the airport with our luggage towards what appeared to be the front entrance. "Shirubi-san, I would like to thank you again for allowing us all to stay with you for the summer." "No problem Yuki-san, we have plenty of room and were happy to have you," I smiled at her. "So about how long will this trip be to your house?" "An hour if traffic is good." "Plenty of time to get acquainted with each other." "Yes, plenty." She smiled at him as they exited through the sliding doors. "Will we need to call cabs?" "Oh no, that would be ridiculous. We'll be taking these." She approached two limousines parked a small way away from them followed by Shia and Hatori. The rest of us realized we were being left behind and caught up. "No, THIS is ridiculous." Kyou said as he examined the limo closest to him. "We can load our luggage in here." Shia said to our left standing behind a white van with the driver.

* * *

I went to load one of Hatori's bags into the back of the van but before I could even stand up straight he grabbed it from me and loaded it himself. "I can do it you know." I huffed at him; he just smiled and said, "I know." "If you'd like Miss Shia, I'd be more than happy to load up everything for you." "Oh, thank you." He tipped his hat to me and began grabbing the bags next to his van, loading them two at a time. "Unfortunately we won't all fit into one car so we're going to have to split up." Shirubi announced, grabbing everyone's attention. "Shia and I will each be in a car, and I'll leave the rest up to you all." "Hey! I never agreed to that!" "Shia, don't be rude." Shirubi gave her a look that clearly read 'Do it'. "Then I call Haa-san!" I shouted, grabbing his hand and raising my other. "I already knew that." I stuck my tongue out at Shirubi as she walked away towards the nearest limo. "I call the one in front!" I shouted again as I ran towards the farthest limo. Hatori followed silently and climbed in behind me after our driver opened the door for us. I slid all the way down to the farthest end joined by him and we waited for everyone else to pile in.

As the driver pulled out I examined everyone around me. Good thing I was between the wall and Hatori, I didn't know any of these people. Next to Hatori was another man around his age with black hair and a suit. After him was another man of same age with incredibly long silver hair and dressed in something very…..no. Another man perhaps a few years older than me at most sat in a plain white dress shirt and brown dress pants, and after him a frail looking man with black hair in his face in some sort of traditional Japanese garb. The last two facing the front next to the door weren't an exception to the oddities. The boy had orange hair, and I really mean ORANGE. He had to be around my age, and he seemed really pissed about the girl next to him, also about my age, clinging to his arm like a lost puppy. She had shoulder length brown hair and was wearing a green dress with some sort of backpack. This was certainly a collection of weirdos, and the cool looking dude with the hair wasn't even with them. The worst part was they were all looking at me expectantly, as if they wanted me to talk to them or something. I sighed. This was not in the handbook.


	3. Completely Insane

Shirubi looked at everyone who had piled into the limo with her. Sitting next to the door were two kids, probably about 11 or 12. They were holding hands, a boy and a girl. The girl was smiling and the boy was scowling. 'Okay….' There was a woman with long hair tied half up in a traditional kimono; she seemed shy looking at her own feet. Next was the blonde boy that bombarded Shia earlier, he was always smiling. After him was a very skinny girl with long black hair that she could already see was antisocial. She seemed only comfortable as long as the next boy was with her. He had two toned hair, white on top and black on the bottom. He wore leather pants and had lots of jewelry and a few piercings. '20 bucks says Shia befriends him first.' I thought to myself, he was entirely her style. If anything she would just be interested because of the way he looks. Then finally, next to me sat Yuki. He smiled at me and I returned it. He has a really good heart, I can tell.

"Shirubi-san, if it's not considered prying, your sister, she seemed a little…." Yuki trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Mistrusting?" I finished. "Yeah, she isn't very nice to new people at first, but she'll warm up soon." 'I hope' I said the last part to myself. I didn't want to say that she's picky about who she lets in, I wanted them to try. "And please just call me Shirubi. We don't use honorifics in America and it's weird."

"So your sister trusts Hatori then? She was very happy to see him."

"Oh my god I don't understand it. Those two just hit it off the day they met and they've been attached at the hip ever since." Shirubi rambled off.

"So Shia-san and Haa-san are best friends?" The blonde boy asked, his eyes wide and sparkling with a smile.

"Pretty much. Uh, sorry, what was your name again?" Shirubi asked the kid. There were 14 of them, she couldn't remember all of their names right away.

"I'm Momiji!"

"Momiji, nice to meet you." I held my hand out to the young boy and he accepted it with a smile and a laugh.

* * *

They all kept looking at me expectantly. What did they want? Can't they just talk amongst themselves or something? I looked up to Haa-san for help.

"How have you been since my last visit? I hope you haven't caused too much trouble." He smiled a small smile as he spoke.

I smiled proudly and didn't say anything. I loved doing thing to drive people crazy. I find their peeves and their secrets and tease them with it. I also loved pulling pranks, anything to get a rise out of someone. I couldn't help it; I was a natural born trouble maker.

And I loved every minute of it.

Hatori just shook his head trying to look disappointed in me, but it wasn't working so well considering he was still smiling.

"You don't look like you're only 17." The man next to Hatori suddenly spoke. I looked at him a little perplexed, unsure of how to answer that. I was a little weirded out that he knew my age. "Hatori told us all about you. You're quite the character from what we've heard."

"And you are?" I questioned sourly. How much more did he know? I didn't like people I didn't trust knowing many things about me.

"My apologies, I'm Shigure." He held out his hand, I just stared at it. What did he take me for? A friend? I was completely unprepared for Hatori grabbing my hand and putting it in Shigure's outstretched one, making me shake hands with him. I face faulted and growled faintly.

"And what ELSE has Haa-san been saying about me?" I glared up at the offending dragon only to see him looking past me out the window, pretending not to hear me.

"Oh only good things of course, and he's quite right, you are beautiful." He brought my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers before I could even process what he said or was doing. My eyes bugged out and I withdrew my hand quickly, pushing myself against the wall separating me from the driver.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" I shouted at him, and it was his turn to look confused.

Hatori promptly smacked him upside his head. "Moron, knock it off. You have a decade on her. I told you not to be so forward towards her." Shigure pouted and leaned back into his seat.

"I was only complimenting her…" he trailed off.

"You never learn." Hatori rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Sorry about Gure-san, he's just a pervert." The one with the silver hair spoke.

"Aya! Haa-san, Aya is saying mean things about me!"

"You are a pervert! Quit hitting on underage girls!" The boy in the back with the orange hair suddenly spoke. He looked like he had definitely been rubbed the wrong way. If this were an anime there would be that angry vein mark popping out of his head.

"You've got no room to talk Kyou, you're the one with a girl draped over your arm." Shigure said teasingly, a smirk appearing at the boy's evident reaction. I thought his head was going to explode.

"I didn't put her there! She won't let go of me! I hate girls!" He yelled as the girl on his arm pouted up at him.

'You and me both.' I thought as I saw her eyes well up with tears. She looked up at him with watery eyes.

"You don't really mean that do you Kyou-kun? You don't hate me. I LOVE YOU!" She roared the last part and began choking him, shaking him back and forth in the process.

'What the hell is wrong with these people!?' I thought, staring wide eyed at the new scene displayed before me. They were all a bunch of nutters! I looked back up to Hatori for answers. He had his hand on his head, eyebrows furrowed, trying to block it out.

"Enough! All of you! You're all making us look like fools in front of Shia-san!" the man in traditional Japanese garb shouted suddenly, startling everyone, including me. Everyone froze for a moment.

"I would like to remind you all that we are guests and Shia-san and Shirubi-san have very graciously allowed us to stay with them. I would expect you all to act appropriately while we are in their company." After a few seconds of no movement, they all sat back in their seats, completely silent.

"Please forgive my family; they don't know how to act in front of other people. I am Akito." He smiled. It was obviously forced, but at least he was making an effort NOT to get thrown out of a moving vehicle.

"Akito huh?" I said. So he's the head of the family. No wonder he got so worked up over their actions. He didn't seem too bad so far, in fact he was higher up on her list than most of the people in the car at the moment.

The only person I was still curious about was the man next to Akito. He hasn't said a word the entire time he's been here. That's probably a good thing since it seems no one in this family can do so without annoying the crap out of me. He looked pretty normal, but I've just been proven several times in the last few minutes that that means absolutely nothing with this family.

"Who is he?" I asked bluntly, pointing at him. I was never one for formalities, I just go straight to the point.

"This is Kureno." Akito answered for him. Kureno just nodded towards me with a small smile. Silent, I liked that. I think he will be the least of my worries.

I sighed as I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. There is no way that whatever may be going on in the car behind them was half as bad as what she just experienced.

* * *

Shirubi heard her phone go off in her pocket and she pulled it out. One New Text Message it read. She sighed, she already knew who it was from.

'_You've got to help me! These people are complete nutters! Trade me please! Those kids can't be half as bad as these freaks!'_

She looked around her.

Kisa and Hiro were still holding hands. Kisa was talking happily and Hiro was looking at her adoringly, nodding every once in a while. She had learned their names when Yuki went through introducing everyone once more for her. Momiji was playing some sort of word game with Hatsuharu to pass the time, and Isuzu just scowled at the passing scenery. Ritsu was staring at her feet again, probably thinking of more things she can apologize for.

Oh yes, Shirubi had attempted conversation with Ritsu. All she did was introduce herself to Ritsu, who began stuttering so badly she couldn't form a word. Then she began to apologize profusely for her stuttering, and when Shirubi said its fine and she didn't need to apologize, she apologized for apologizing. That was about the point that Shirubi gave up. Yuki had given her a strained smile afterwards, indicating that this was completely normal.

Uh huh.

Giving the fact that the younger bunch seemed a bit more docile than the adults, she could sadly believe that it was worse up was currently just sitting next to her in comfortable silence, watching over everyone as they did whatever. Thank god for him, or she thought she might crack. His sanity kept her grounded with her own.

'_You're right, they probably aren't as bad, but you're staying right where you are. You've got Hatori, you're just fine.'_

She sent the text and leaned back into her seat, once again observing everyone else.

* * *

Shia read the text and pouted. Well her sister was right, being able to be with Hatori was definitely more than worth it. She looked over at him and watched him turn the page in the book he had begun reading. The whole car had been silent since Akito's outburst, everyone looking around awkwardly and avoiding each other's eyes. I was growing bored, and judging by our location we still had about twenty minutes until we arrived home. I pulled my Zune back out of my bag and put in my earphones. Music always makes boring car rides go by fast, and seeing as nobody looked like they were going to talk soon, she didn't think it would be very rude. She ran down the list of bands being picky as usual, and smiled when she found what she was looking for. The Dying Sound by Ventana began playing and she smiled to herself. Nothing like a great industrial band to pass the time with.

* * *

Shirubi was glad to see they were rounding the corner to their street. Yuki had entertained her with stories of some of the family members in the other car for the last 15 minutes after she had asked what they were like. She could see why Shia wanted to trade, they sounded ridiculous, especially these Shigure and Ayame guys. The two limos pulled up side by side in the drive, followed by the luggage van.

"Wow this is your house Shirubi-san?" Momiji said in surprise.

"It's so big!" Kisa said, giggling when Hiro kissed her on the forehead. Were they even old enough to be dating? Shouldn't they still believe each other has cooties?

Hiro got up and opened the door for her, and she hopped out giggling again. Everyone filed out one by one until finally I was able to stretch and breathe in the fresh air. I looked behind me towards the other car and saw Shia emerging with Hatori at her heels. He WOULD tell her to go first, he was such a gentleman and liked to baby her. Don't tell anybody I told you that. They would both deny it to their graves, and we can't wound poor Shia's pride can we.

Not that I don't do it anyways.

"Welcome to our home." I said as I unlocked the front doors and entered, holding the door for everyone else. "I know it'll be a little cramped, but I'm sure we'll be able to make it work."

Kyou broke the silence that set upon the family as they looked around the rather large entrance hall.

"You call this cramped!? What are you taking!?"


	4. Trouble Brewing

"Your luggage." The van driver said as he brought the first two bags inside.

"Thank you. You can just set them inside the door here." Shirubi told him.

"I'll help!" I told Shirubi. I volunteered myself to help unload the luggage so I could get a few minutes away from everybody. They were beginning to be a little overwhelming. I followed the 'driver' back out of the house to the back of the van to gather more bags.

"Thanks again Noah, I really appreciate it."

"No problem Shia. You came all the way out to the mall in the middle of the night to jump my car. I owe you big time." Noah said to me.

"Well you know I would never leave you stranded in the middle of the night. You live all the way back in Cleveland there was no way you would have gotten yourself home. But either way thanks a million for coming all the way here, I'll give you some gas money for your troubles." I said as we walked back up towards the house, another eight bags in tow between the two of us.

"Oh no, this is repayment for saving my ass, and before you say anything the fact that you chewed me out because I interrupted your game has nothing to do with it. It's not your fault I left my lights on, but you still came out and helped me when you didn't have to." We walked back inside and set more of the luggage in the entrance hall. I noticed that everyone seemed to be relaxing here and there, some talking to others, and the rest just kicking back. Shirubi was standing off to one side in conversation with the silver haired boy she was talking to in the airport.

I started talking again once we exited the house and went back for more. "No way, I only drove to the mall to help you out, you drove an hour out of your way in a van with crappy mileage and you still have to drive back. I'm giving you gas money." I said sternly.

"I'll refuse it. I'm not taking your money."

I growled lowly at him. He was really starting to piss me off. Why can't he just take the stupid money! I can't just ask him to drive this far and not repay him!

The debate continued everytime we stepped back outside for more luggage. Within a few more trips we had it all collected in the entrance hall. I followed Noah as he walked back out to his van to take his leave.

"Here."

"I told you I'm not taking it." He said looking at the 20 I was holding out to him.

"Noah! Just take it! I can't let you waste all of that gas without paying for it!" I yelled at him, jumping and stomping in frustration.

"I'm not taking it." He opened the door and climbed in starting the car.

"Noah!" I started whining, switching strategies when I saw angry wasn't working.

"I'll call you later alright? I've got some new stuff I wanna run by you." With that he drove off.

"NOAH!" I shouted, jumping and stomping again. He just waved at me from his window as he progressed further down the road.

"UGH!" I yelled, frustrated with him. I hated when people just did things for me, I wanted to repay them all the time. 'I'll just get him later when he calls.' I thought to myself as I walked back up the sidewalk to my front doors.

#

I paused in my conversation with Yuki to look at Shia as she closed the front doors and approached me. We had been talking about cooking. Turns out he's very interested in it, but apparently very bad. I was offering to give him a few lessons and had just told him he can start by helping me out with dinner tonight, since it was going to be a big one.

"Okay, wanna give a tour and show them their rooms?" Shia asked me when she finally reached us. I looked around the entrance hall to see almost everyone engrossed in conversation.

"Yeah that would be best, then they can all relax. I'm sure they're all tired." I walked to the center of the hall when they could all see me.

"Alright if you all would like to follow Shia and I, we'll give you a tour around the estate. Then we will come back for your belongings and show you the guest rooms." Everyone nodded and began following the two of us as we walked through the first door to the left.

"This is the living room. If we continue through these doors in the back of the room it opens up to the library. There are plenty of books in here ranging from historical to science fiction. These doors to our right open back up into the entrance hall along the stairs." Everybody continued looking around, some in slight awe at the size of the place. They walked out and around the stairs and continued going to the left behind the other side of the stairs.

"This leads to the dining room. As you can see we swapped out our usual small seating for a more favorable arrangement to accommodate everyone." The usual circular table that could seat a maximum of four was nowhere to be seen, and had been replaced by a long wooden rectangular table. Two people each could be seated at either end and each longer side could seat six. "To the right we have the kitchen. We don't have any cooks or butlers or anything like that, we do all the cooking. We do have a handful of maids who help clean around the house but we take care of our own rooms, laundry, and any messes we may make. They only sweep, dust, and clean windows."

"While you are here you will all be expected to do the same and take care of yourselves. No whiny babies or lazy princesses. You'll do your own laundry, clean your own dishes, and make your own beds. No exceptions. Is that clear?" Shia piped in, looking around at everyone. They all nodded obediently. I sighed; leave it to Shia to put the fear of the gods into everyone.

"Back through here is the entrance hall again. If you'll all grab your belongings we'll head upstairs and show you to your rooms." Everybody nodded once more and grabbed their things.

#

I watched as everybody collected what was theirs from the pile. I noticed that Akito wasn't carrying anything, but the quiet man had a few more bags than the rest. Kureno was his name, I think. I turned around and began up the stairs, grabbing one of Haa-san's bags as I did so. He had a few more than the rest, being a doctor and all. I was happy when he didn't protest this and lead everyone to a hallway to the left of the stairs.

"All of the rooms are in this hall. Some rooms have one bed, others have two. Unfortunately we only have 10 guest rooms so a few of you are going to have to share. I'll leave it up to you who sleeps where. My room is at the very end to the left, Shirubi's is across at the end to the right. Come on Haa-san, I'll take you to your room!" I grabbed his hand and began dragging him down the hall to the second to last room on the left, right next to mine.

#

"We have a room specially set aside for him for when he visits, already put together for him." I explained to the questioning faces, which soon morphed into understanding. "Well like she said, you're all free to pick a room and roomie if necessary." I said and without a second thought, one man with dark hair in a suit took off down the hall straight for the room next to Hatori's. He opened the door and walked right in, popping out seconds later.

"Aya! Come come! There are two beds in here, we can share!" He said down the hall and a tall man with very long silver hair smiled brightly and ran right over to him.

"Oh Gure-san you're always so thoughtful, sharing with me!" The two promptly entered the room and shut the door.

"That was easy." I said. Everyone else was still standing around me looking down the hall. "Well go on, the doors don't bite!" They continued to look at me, unsure.

"Here I'll help." I opened the doors nearest to me on the left and right. "One bed, one bed. Akito I'm sure you would enjoy your own room." I gestured to the room on the left.

"Thank you very much Shirubi-san. Kureno can take the room across the hall." He walked into his room with another man at his heels.

"Awesome. How about two of you girls room together? This room has two beds." I opened the next door on the right and offered it up.

"Wanna be roomies Kisa?" A girl with shoulder length brown hair asked the little girl. She nodded her head and smiled. "Yay! This is going to be so much fun!" She ran into the offered room and the younger girl followed.

"Okay I've got two rooms left with two beds and 3 singles. Anybody wanna volunteer to share?"

"I won't mind sharing if it makes everyone else more comfortable." Yuki said, sacrificing his privacy.

"Okay, second to last room on the right is open if you like. Would anyone like to room with Yuki?" I saw the boy with two tone hair raise his hand. If I wasn't mistaken, I thought I saw Yuki's eye twitch slightly, but he smiled all the same. The two of them took their possessions to their new room and I turned back to the five left in front of me.

"I'll share with someone Shirubi-san!" Momiji was bouncing on his feet with his hand in the air. I opened the door next to Akito's room for him, indicating that it was the last double room.

"Well the remaining three rooms are one person, so I guess it's whoever gets to them first." Before I even finished that sentence, Isuzu swept past me and took the room after Kisa and Kagura's, slamming the door in her wake.

"No way in hell I'm rooming with that brat." The orange haired boy walked quickly to the only remaining room on the left, slamming the door behind him as well.

"Ritsu, you should probably have a room to yourself." I walked over to the remaining room on the right and opened the door for her.

"Ah, thank you Shirubi-san, thank you so very much!" She walked towards me and into the room, bowing before I shut the door for her.

"Are you kidding? So I have to room with that guy?" Hiro scoffed.

"Is there a problem with that princess?" I jumped slightly as Shia appeared at my side. She and the kid glared off at each other for a minute. A long, uncomfortable minute. Finally the boy looked away with a "Hn." and went to his new room.

#

I pulled Haa-san down to his room, even though he already knew where it was. I threw the door open and walked over to his bed, setting his bag on it.

"Welcome home Haa-san!" I turned to him and hugged him again. He dropped his bags on the floor and returned my embrace. He put his hand on my head and I looked up at him. "This is going to really be the best summer ever!"

"Of course it is. After all I get to spend it with my imouto." He gave me a small smile and I let a small laugh escape. "You don't need to be so formal in front of the family, they are already of the understanding that you are like my little sister."

"Alright Nii-san. Would you like some help getting settled?"

"I think I can manage. Why don't you help everyone else get accommodated?"

"……"

"Okay why don't you help your sister get everyone else accommodated?"

I sighed. "Okay, I'll be back in a little bit when lunch is ready. Don't miss me too much!" I let him go and exited his room, closing the door quietly behind me. I approached my sister just in time to hear the little brat complaining about his roommate.

"Is there a problem with that princess?" I asked, glaring down at the kid. He glared back for a minute before admitting silent defeat and going to his new room.

"Shia, I told you to be nice." Shirubi chastised me, but I just pretended to no habla ingles.

"It's about noon. If we start now we can scrape something together for lunch." The two of us proceeded back down through the entrance hall and into the kitchen.

"What are we gonna make? You know I can't cook." I looked at Shirubi for answers.

"Don't worry, it comes in a box with directions so you'll be alright." She pulled out two big boxes from the freezer and handed me one as she began to open the other. Stouffers macaroni and cheese, two family size boxes.

"Holy crap my favorite!" I began tearing open the box and looking at it with hungry eyes.

"You realize it still has to cook for 45 minutes right?" Shirubi said as she turned the oven on and watched me pout in amusement.

"Well crap. What am I gonna do until then?"

"Go to your studio or something. I've got a few phone calls to make anyways so I'll keep an eye on the food and let you know when it's done."

"Okay!" I jumped at the opportunity to NOT sit around and be bored, and took off back up the stairs and down to my room. A few of the family had their doors ajar, and I glanced in as I passed by. Kagura and a younger girl were putting their clothes into their dressers. Another girl a little farther down was brushing her brown hair in her mirror. Hatori's door was now open as well and he was sitting in his armchair we had given him reading. I entered my room and went to one of my dressers. I pulled out a pair of black capri sweats and a red wife beater and changed into them. I discarded my shoes and socks and grabbed my Zune and foot thongs. As I passed Hatori's room I popped my head in.

"Ne, Nii-san, I'll be in my studio alright?" He nodded at me and continued reading. I continued down the hall with a spring in my step. I noticed the girl with brown hair was now organizing clothing in her closet and the two girls further down were chittering about something or other. I rounded the corner and passed the stairs, going down the other hallway. At the very end I reached my studio. I pulled out my keys from my bag and unlocked the door, turning the lights on. Closing the door I dropped my bag. Put my dance thongs on and walked over to the sound system to hook up my music. I made sure my phone was visible in case someone tried to contact me for something important.

I started my music and warmed up for a minute, doing a little routine I learned years back. Then I just went into freestyling whatever came to me. A little bit of popping and locking, housing, grooving, a few isolations, etc. I decided to practice some Bboy moves. I had just started picking up on the style and it was a bit harder than I was used to. It's very athletic, something I knew I would need a little work on. I started getting into my toprock, and then tried a new one. I wanted to be very versatile so I tried as many as I could find online. Then I wanted something a little more challenging so I dropped and swung my leg out going into a six step.

After a few rounds of that I decided to go for it. I was going to attempt a windmill. I broke it down a few times dropping into a turtle and trying it one windmill at a time. Then when I felt confident enough I got back up. I looked at myself in the mirrors covering the whole length of the wall I was facing, to see my own determination staring back at me. 'Here's to not dislocating any shoulders' I thought. I waited for the beat to come back around and when it did I dropped into a turtle again and spun my body to my left with as much force as I could. Just as I had dropped though, my phone went off. I had been so focused on the windmill that I caused me to jump, but I had already put motion to it so I ended up on my back.

"Ugh." I groaned, picking myself up. I walked over to my phone and opened the text message that had messed up my potentially epic moment.

'_Lunch is done. Could you let everyone know while I set the table? Plzkthnx.'_

I sighed.' Damnit Rubi, why couldn't you wait another 30 seconds?' Oh well, I guess my windmill will have to wait for another time. I turned off the sound system and put my Zune back in my bag with my dance foot thongs. I turned off the lights as I left the room and made sure to lock the door on my way out. I made my way back to my room and dropped my stuff, then went to collect everyone.

"Nii-san, lunch is ready." I popped back into his room. He bookmarked his spot and left the book on his desk, following me out. I steadily made my way down the hall knocking on doors one by one. By the time I reached Akito's room everyone else was gathering behind me like lost sheep that weren't shown where the dining room was earlier.

"Akito, lunch is ready." I said through the door. I heard his light footsteps as he opened the door and followed me down the hall. I paraded them down the stairs and into the dining room where by now the table had plates at every seat. The pans of macaroni were set in the middle at each end and pitchers of iced tea and lemonade were also available. 'I wouldn't have thought of that.' I admitted to myself as I took a seat next to Shirubi at the head of the table. I noticed everyone else still standing as everyone found a seat. Akito and Kureno had placed themselves opposite of us, and I realized everyone was watching them. Then when Akito sat the rest followed suit. Shirubi and I just gave each other a look, then nodded.

"Hey everybody listen up. This is important and I'm only going to say it once. While you're in our house you will abide by our rules. Like we just witnessed you have rules at the table in your house, well we have them too. While you're here you will be expected to follow them. I apologize Akito, we mean no offence and we hope you will understand. When we get to the dinner table what do we do Shia?"

"We sit the hell down and help ourselves. None of this waiting for one person to sit before us, or waiting for them to take the first bite before we begin eating. While you're in this house no one is better than the other. We treat each other equally. I don't know what's with you all, but it's about time you start acting like a real family and give each other the same respect that you would expect. That being said, please, dig in and enjoy."

Everyone looked startled for a moment. Understandable, they were essentially telling them to treat their head of family the same as each other, a custom they are entirely new to. I just ignored them and began helping myself to copious amounts of macaroni. I poured myself a glass of iced tea and offered some to Hatori, who I also poured a glass. Soon after everyone relaxed a little and began eating as well. Conversations started up between people who were near each other and everyone seemed to be enjoying the food.

#

Yuki and I were engrossed in conversation once again. He and I really had a lot in common.

"You have great taste in music Shirubi-san."

"It's Shirubi, not Shirubi-san. We've been over this."

He just smiled at me and took another bite of his lunch. I swept my eyes around the table and saw everyone enjoying themselves. Shia was talking to Hatori. 'Of course.' I told myself. Had I really expected her to attempt conversation with anyone else? The dark haired man in the suit and the one next to him with the long silver hair were conversing animatedly with wild hand gestures. The girl with brown hair was latched onto the orange haired boy, who was trying to get away. Momiji was poking fun at him. Hatsuharu and Isuzu ate quietly, but somehow their silence seemed shared. Hiro was listening to Kisa talk some more, and Ritsu was apologizing to Kureno for accidentally bumping his hand. If Shia had been looking at the time she would have probably noticed the look Akito was giving them.

His eyes full of darkness and hatred.


	5. The Zodiac

**Author's Note: thank you Megan and Kathy Ann for reviewing. Reviews make me type faster!**

The rest of lunch went by rather well. Yuki and I shared our favorite music with each other. I was surprised at how much pop he listened to.

"Do you listen to any Hyde and L'arc~En~Ceil?" I asked him suddenly, referring to my favorite Japanese singer and his band.

"As a matter of fact, I do." He replied after swallowing his last bite of food.

"Oh my god he's like my favorite singer ever! I knew there was a reason I liked you!" I beamed at him, excited that he and I had the same tastes in music. "You and I should trade music sometime!"

"That sounds good; I'm interested in this Panic at the Disco you speak so highly of."

"Ugh, I hate that whiny baby emo shit." Shia dipped into their conversation. She had been talking to Hatori, but that had abruptly stopped when she heard the latter band's name.

"Oh, I'm sorry I don't listen to screaming growling death metal." I glared at her, daring her to continue this argument. But of course it's Shia, so she dares to.

"Well you should, it's much better than 'I'm full of angst and self pity. I cut myself and hate my life regardless of the fact that no one is hurting me!'" She mimicked a slashing motion across her wrist.

"Is not! It's not like that at all! You have no room to talk with your 'death murder death death rape kill satan satan stab murder chop kill!' What the fuck are you laughing about!?" Shia was cracking up. She laughed so hard she fell sideways out of her chair. Hatori just watched her fall and rolled his eyes. "Shia what the hell is wrong with you!?"

"Oh my god! Aha ha ha ha ha! 'Death kill rape murder satan chop stab!' Oh my god Rubi, that was awesome!" She continued gasping for breath on the floor. At this point everyone was leaning in their seats to watch Shia geek out over what I said. Some looked at her like she was a complete nut job, but a few were laughing at her. She calmed her breathing after a few more seconds and stared up at everybody.

* * *

As my breathing settled I stared up to see everyone watching me. I didn't really care and just flopped my head back onto the floor, chillin out there.

"You are such a barbarian." I just smiled up at Rubi. She rolled her eyes at me and got up from the table with her plate. I saw Yuki pick do the same and follow her into the kitchen.

"Shia, get off the floor." I pouted for a few seconds before doing as Hatori asked. Everyone was STILL staring at me.

"What!? Have you never seen anyone genuinely laugh before?" With that I grabbed my plate, cup, and fork and made my way into the kitchen. I stopped short and ducked behind the island countertop before the other people in the room noticed. What I saw before me was the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

"No, Yuki you're a guest let me do it."

"But that is why I must insist Shirubi-san. I am the guest, allow me to take care of the dishes."

"Shirubi, not Shirubi-san. Shi. Ru. Bi. Shirubi. I've told you."

I watched as she attempted to snatch the sponge and dish from Yuki's hands.

"Please Shirubi-san, go relax. I'll take care of it. It's the least I can do in exchange for your kindness."

"Okay repeat after me. Shirubi."

"Shirubi-san"

No, Shirubi."

"Shirubi-san."

"Shirubi!"

"San."

It took all I had to keep silent and not lose it laughing again. Shirubi's face was priceless. She watched her sister scoff and exit the kitchen, finally realizing she wasn't going to get Yuki away from doing the dishes.

"I know what you're doing." I said as I finally approached him. He started a little at my sudden voice but quickly composed himself.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean Shia-san." Oh he wanted to play that game huh? Well he's playing with the queen of 'No Habla Ingles' so it isn't going to work.

"You're just doing it to get a rise out of her. You're a polite boy. I'm sure if a girl had asked you enough, you would call her by whatever she asked." We were both silent for a moment as I stood next to him and began washing my dishes as well. I could tell he was processing what I had said and was calculating a response.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about Shia-san." He looked to me with a smile on his face and set the last of his dishes in the drying rack.

"I see." I watched him look around for a moment, presumably for a towel, and then tossed the one near me towards him. I chuckled a little to myself when it landed over his face. He just pulled it off and dried his hands as though he had caught it all along. When he finished he tossed it back to me where it landed right on top of my head. I growled lightly as I put my plate in the drying rack with the rest of the dishes. I pulled it off and looked around for Yuki but he had already fled the scene. I dried my hands off, smirking to myself. This was going to be fun.

Back in the dining room several others began to stand and bring their plates into the kitchen. I was going to head back to my studio to FINALLY nail that windmill, but apparently Shirubi had decided I would rather join her and the family in the living room. Rubi sat on one of the couches and Yuki joined her, Thy guy with the cool hair sitting on his other side. I made a mental note to learn everyone else's names as soon as possible. The rest entered one by one and found a seat, although seating was a bit scarce as it wasn't assembled for 16 people. I waited for Hatori to pick a seat and when he chose a large armchair I sat on the arm next to him.

* * *

I wanted everyone to meet up in the living room so we could begin getting to know each other as a family, which would hopefully alleviate some tension. Once everyone was settled I gathered their attention.

"I thought it would be a good idea if we all got to know each other a bit better. It would make us a bit more comfortable with each other. Please bear with Shia and I, we have 14 of you to get to know and you only have the two of us." I was slightly nervous; everyone was just staring at me. I felt like I was at a school assembly and I had to make a speech in front of the class.

"So how about we go around one more time telling our names, and a little about ourselves this time? I'll start. My name is Shirubi; I'm a Souma of course. I'm 17 and I'll be a senior in high school this fall. I really enjoy playing my bassoon and swimming. Shia is my twin and we live here together in our family's estate. It was handed down to us when our mom passed away." I had hoped no one would give us that pity look when I said the last part. Shia and I were both sick of it and it was getting old. I was happy when Momiji raised his hand and waved it around. Hopefully whatever he had to say would distract anyone from asking about mom.

"You and Shia-san are twins? But you don't look like twins. You look more like just sisters." I sweat dropped a little. Did I really have to explain it? Then again he was pretty young, but you think he would know what I'm about to tell him right now.

"We're fraternal twins. Fraternal twins are born at the same time but look different, whereas identical twins look the same as each other."

"Oh! I get it. So do you still finish each other's sentences and say the same things sometimes?" Wow, he was really excited about this.

"Of course. Shia and I look different, we're built different, and we have different personalities but we're still pretty in sync with each other. We still do a lot of the freaky twin stuff you've seen or heard about."

"Cool!" He smiled brightly. "Can I go next?"

"Sure, please be our guest."

"My name is Momiji! I'm 16 and I'm going to be a junior in high school! I really like to play outside and….." I didn't even hear the rest. He's 16!? What!? There's no way!

I looked over to Shia and she looked probably the way I did. Her jaw dropped as far as it could without unhinging itself, and I thought her eyes we going to fall out of her head. I looked back at the blonde boy to see that he had stopped talking and was looking at the two of us, confused.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"You're 16!? No way!" I heard Shia voice my thoughts. I finally snapped out of it and added my two cents.

"But I thought you were like 12! You're only as tall as Shia!"

"Are you implying that I look like a 12 year old!?" Shia snapped.

"No, that's just what you're inferring." She just turned away after that and ignored me.

"You next Kyou-kun!" Momiji bounced up and down on the couch he sat upon and looked at the orange haired boy sitting on the floor.

"Don't tell me what to do!" He shouted. He seems to get worked up easily. That's terrible; he's pretty much begging for Shia to terrorize him. I glanced at my sister again and sure enough, she had a mischievous glint in her eyes. 'Oh god, please behave Shia.'

"Come on Kyou-kun, just introduce yourself." The dark haired man in a suit said.

"They already know my name! You keep saying it! I don't even know why we're doing this anyways! It's so stupid!"

I saw Yuki stand out of the corner of my eye and approach where Kyou sat. Without warning, he kicked him over, while somehow looking poised and refined.

"I suggest you stop acting like a child. We are guests in this home and we should act like so. Shirubi-san asked you to introduce yourself so introduce yourself you stupid cat." Yuki had yet to remove his foot from Kou's head as he lay there on the floor. Out of nowhere Kyou sprang to life and jumped into a standing position. Did a pair of ears and a tail just pop out of his body?

"You stupid rat! Come on let's go right now! I'll kick your sorry-"

"That's enough Kyou-kun! I told you that while we are here you are to act properly." Akito said in an icy tone.

It would have been very intimidating if Shia wasn't snickering. She looked like she was trying pretty hard not to explode with laughter. I rolled my eyes and rubbed my face. The doorbell rang, great. Shia kept snickering and a few of them glanced curiously towards me as I walked into the hall to open the door.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to pick up Dante from work." A woman with blonde hair and blue eyes stood there with her son she had gestured to.

"Hey Dante."

"Rubi, what's up?" He grabbed my wrist and tried to pound my fist and do some silly handshake. I just stood there with my hand limp pretending he wasn't there.

"It's fine. They're all in the living room if you wanna meet them." I stepped back and opened the door wider so that they could step inside.

* * *

These guys were funny. I tried my best to hold in my laughing, but some snickers still escaped. This Kyou guy was going to be fun; I couldn't wait to push his buttons. Did I just see ears and a tail? I continued my sounds of amusement as the doorbell rang and Rubi answered it. She came back just a few seconds later with a blonde woman and a white haired boy. Rubi looked a tinge annoyed from behind them.

"Shorty!"

"Broski!" I leapt up from the arm of the chair and pounded the boy's fist. After completing our handshake we hugged each other.

"Dude! Where have you been I haven't seen you in a week!" I wondered aloud as we released each other.

"Been working. You know how it is. They don't care if we had finals so I never got a break all week."

"That's so stupid. I'd just not show." I was completely psyched that Dante was here, he was totally my brother from another mother, except a little better since he legally was these days.

"Everyone this is Dorinda Souma. She lives next door and she's also our legal guardian. We were just beginning some introductions if you'd like to stick around." Rubi directed the last part to Dorinda.

"We'd love to. I'm Dorinda and this is my son Dante. Dante?" She called his name a second time when he didn't answer her. I didn't notice either; we were too engrossed in conversation to pay attention to the outside world.

"Shia! Dante! Stop being rude!" Rubi snapped us out of our world and we looked around confused. She was tapping her foot impatiently while Dorinda just shook her head at us.

Dante and I both just looked at each other with 'oops' written all over our faces. I sat back on the arm of Hatori's chair and Dante sat by my feet on the ground. We continued through introductions, and Hatori didn't need to bother since everyone knew him already. Everyone broke out into conversation soon after. Akito went to his room, saying he felt under the weather, and Kureno followed him. Hatori got up shortly after, saying he should make sure Akito was alright. Isuzu went to her room as well; she seemed to spend a lot of time in there. Dorinda was making small talk with Shigure and Ayame. Kisa and Hiro had turned on the television and were going through channels. Momiji was talking to Ritsu, who looked slightly nervous talking to the exuberant boy. Hatsuharu, who had asked us to just call him Haru, had joined Kisa and Hiro in searching for something to watch. Yuki was talking to Rubi. AGAIN. She has no room to talk when she tells me to talk to other people, when she hasn't talked to anyone but that Yuki guy all day. Dante and I wanted to work on some new ideas we had for a song, but I knew Rubi wouldn't let us leave. It was 'family time' or something like that. That left us with the only thing we do when Dante and I are bored.

We cause trouble.

I already had the perfect target lined up. He was near the door trying to leave, but the brown haired girl was whining and pulling on his arm begging him to stay. I think her name was Kagura. I whispered my awesome idea into Dante's ear. He gave me a wicked smile that let me know he too thought it was genius.

"Yeah he got completely owned by Yuki, you totally missed it." I made sure I was speaking loud enough for me to hear him.

"I believe it, he looks like a total wuss." Dante was just as loud as we watched for his reaction.

"HEY! I'm no wuss! If I had been given the chance I'd have whipped the floor with him!" He yelled, momentarily forgetting that he was trying to escape the clingy girl in front of him.

"I saw plenty of chances, and you just laid there on the floor doing nothing." I tried to be as nonchalant as possible, because I knew it would piss him off more.

"I am not a wuss! Why don't the two of you come over here and say that to my face!?"

I looked at Dante and shrugged. He mirrored me and we both approached the orange haired boy. Apparently he hadn't been expecting us to actually take him up on his offer, because he looked unsure of what to do.

"Wuss." Dante and I said together.

"God damnit! I show you!" Before I had completely registered the situation, he had pounced on me. I almost immediately bounced back however, and we were soon involved in a tussling match on the floor. To my surprise, he was REALLY good. I definitely hadn't expected this much trouble if a fight arose. Dante sensed my struggle and stepped in to save my sorry ass. He tackled Kyou off of me and pinned him to the floor.

"Don't you touch my sister you punk!" They struggled on the floor for a moment more until Dorinda grabbed Dante by the ear and yanked him off of Kyou.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Mom! Get off me!" He struggled free of her grip.

"What did I tell you about fighting!? Sorry everyone, my son doesn't know how to control himself. I think it's time we take our leave. It was a pleasure meeting all of you." She began towards the entrance hall but paused at the sound of my voice.

"Wait! It's wasn't his fault Dorinda it was mine. I instigated a fight and he was just protecting me. I'm really very sorry. Can he please stay?" I put on my mature face and hoped it would work. She could see right through it sometimes; I hoped today wasn't one of those times.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. He needs some time to cool off. Let's go Dante."

"No wait please! I promise we'll behave! Let him stay for dinner please?" A long, deafening silence followed and I held my breath.

"Fine, but ONLY until dinner. Afterwards you come straight home do you understand Dante?"

"Yes mom, thank you!" He smiled happily, wishing he could hug her. I did a happy dance to myself in my own head.

"I really should get going though; I've got some work I need to finish for the exhibit at the museum. Again, it was a real pleasure. I'm sure I'll see you all again soon. Right after dinner Dante."

"I know, I know, I'll see you tonight mom." She kissed him on the head on her way out. Dante and I did our handshake again and looked at everyone else. They all had a serious look on their face except for Rubi.

"I think we need to talk." Shigure said to the three of us.

"Uh…." Oh shit, I was in serious trouble. I immediately began thinking of all the ways I could possibly get out of this. We all sat down slowly and I looked at Shigure with curious and slightly frightened eyes.

"Is there anything you might need to tell us?"

"Huh? I don't think so." I tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about.

"Anything at all? You can't think of anything you might have neglected to mention to us?" Shigure waited patiently for our answer.

"I don't think so. Rubi, what's he talking about?"

"I honestly have no idea." She was just as confused as I was. They better stop beating around the bush and just say what they have to say already.

"Are you at all familiar with the legend of the Chinese Zodiac?"

"Well duh." I sad matter of factly, like that was the stupidest question in the world. Coming from _them, _it was.

"And are you familiar with how it pertains to our family?"

"Well yeah, it's kind of hard not to be when you ARE a zodiac."


	6. Summer's Just Begun

**Author's Note: Thank you to KoolKat14, Mihang, Kathy Ann, and the lovely LightningStar for your reviews. Here's the next promised chapter!**

They all just stared. Every last one of them. What was their problem? They were zodiac too, it's not like we were oddballs in comparison to them.

"You're a zodiac animal? But I thought there were only 13?" Momiji asked with a curious face.

"There are only 13. I thought Hatori would have explained everything already." I couldn't believe he didn't tell them.

"I was hoping to tell everyone tonight at dinner." Hatori had walked back into the living room. "I think a family meeting is in order."

Shigure had gathered the rest of the family from their rooms. They all came back downstairs and took their seats once more. Once everyone had settled again it was Rubi that spoke.

"You were all called down here because it has come to my attention that some VERY important information has not yet been released to you. In case you didn't know, we are fully aware of the zodiac animals each of you, minus Akito, are haunted by. What you don't know is that we are possessed by the same spirits as well. I was hoping this information would be made available to you BEFORE you got here, but it seems it didn't work out that way." The room was silent for a minute as everyone digested this rather large bit of information. Yuki, evermore composed, was the first to speak up.

"So you're saying that there is an entire second set of family members possessed by the spirits of the zodiac?"

"That is correct."

"I'm not entirely sure if I understand. I thought only one set existed at any given time? How can two sets within the same family at the same time coexist?"

"I can't say anything for sure because we will probably never know the exact reason, but what I can speculate is rather complicated. You see, Souma isn't really our true surname. We REALLY go by MacKenna. About four generations ago our great, great, grandfather, Murphy MacKenna, married a woman of the Souma family, a woman possessed by the spirit of the monkey. Two generations later, beginning with our grandmother, our family members were suddenly turning into animals left and right. We came to find out about the woman grandpa Murphy married and her family. Needless to say since then every other generation seems to carry the same curse. In public we still got by MacKenna, but when dealing with family matters and zodiacs, we've adopted the name Souma in correspondence with our cursed family members overseas. Of course this is all speculation; we will probably never know for sure how it all happened. However it is the most logical explanation and the only thing that makes any sense." A few more minutes of silence hung over the living room as the information was processed. Momiji snapped the rest of them out of their reverie with his high voice.

"So you guys are really zodiac animals too?" I was a little frightened by the excitement in his voice. It almost seemed like he was planning something as he bounced on the edge of his seat.

"Yeah, really." I chimed in, a little impatiently. I hated when people would repeat back what you just told them in the form of a question. Rubi just said that, right?

"Yay! That means I can hug you!"

"What!?" I was completely unprepared for him, and before I understood what was happening I toppled off the arm of Hatori's chair.

"I've never been able to hug anyone outside of my family before! Look everyone! I didn't transform!" What the hell did he think he was doing!? Who did he think he was just tackling me like that and then hugging me!? I started growling again like earlier, only this time louder.

Dante grabbed the boy before I had the chance to do any damage, effectively yanking him off me. He dropped him on his feet and gave me his hand to pull me up, while Momiji charged at Rubi. She was irritated as well, but mostly uncomfortable as the pint sized teenager hugged her around her waist. I just grumbled and sat back on the arm of the chair, keeping an eye on the ball of fluff as he bounced around the room. Haru grabbed Momiji by the collar of his shirt as he passed him, and pulled him down back onto the couch.

* * *

After Momiji let me go he began to prance around the room. I looked back at Shia to see her miffed, her eyes following the little blonde man around the room. Finally Haru snatched him up and made him sit back down.

"I'm sorry, he likes to do that."

"Not at all Yuki, he's not your responsibility." I smiled at him; he was always the polite one.

"Well if this isn't exciting! Who is actually a zodiac so far? What animals are they?" Ayame was his name I think.

"Well if you couldn't already tell, Shia is the dragon. I suspect that is the reason her and Hatori are so close."

"Ah! Interesting! They completely oppose each other!" Shigure was the one to talk this time. "And what about you? Wait, don't tell me. The rat right? Or maybe the rooster! I'm right aren't I?"

"No." I giggled a little to myself, he was so far off.

"The ram? How about-"

"I'm the snake." They all looked at me with wide eyes for a moment.

"Oh how wonderful! We match! Oh this is so exciting isn't it Gure-san?" Ayame had risen from his seat and grabbed my hands, and I swore I could see little hearts dancing around his head. Crap. I had to share a zodiac with this fruit!? So much for having a special bond. I glanced over at Shia and Hatori. Yup, it was just them; it had nothing to do with the zodiac. This guy was nothing like me! I looked back at the dragons once more. They were nothing like each other. I returned my gaze to Ayame who still had a hold on my hands. Really? Is it possible?

No way. Never in a million years.

"Ayame leave her alone, you're scaring her." What Yuki said was a bit true, but I didn't want to be rude to someone I was going to spend the next two and a half months with.

"Yeah, we match, cool." What I said had the opposite effect I desired and he instead pulled me into an embrace.

"Aya, are you leaving me for another woman?" Shigure whined from the couch with a pout.

"Oh of course not Gure-san! You're the only one who knows how to keep me up all night." He let me go and flitted back to Shigure's side immediately. "I'm sorry if I made you jealous Gure-san. I promise I'll make it up to you tonight."

"Only you know how to hold me right, Aya." The look on my face must have been a good one, because it made Yuki chuckle a bit although he seemed irritated.

"It's best just to ignore them Shirubi-san, they do this all the time."

"How many times must I ask you to call me Shirubi?"

"At least once more, Shirubi-san."

I sighed, he was so stubborn. His politeness was very becoming of him, but I can't help but wish he would drop the formalities with me.

"What about Dorinda-san? Is she a zodiac?"

"No but Dante is." The room collectively shifted their attention to the white haired boy.

"What animal are you?" Momiji was bouncing in his seat again in anticipation.

"The tiger."

"So is Kisa-chan!" Dante looked over at the small girl and gave her a light nod. She just smiled back and Dante returned to his new conversation with Shia.

"You'll meet the rest in due time, they'll all be stopping by as soon as they can to meet you all. Dinner won't be for another couple of hours, so please do as you please until then." Everyone began talking, and some returned to their rooms. Kisa, Hiro, and Haru returned to channel surfing.

"Would you like to help me get dinner started Yuki? It's going to take a while to prepare enough food for everyone."

"I would love to." He followed me into the kitchen and I began teaching him some basics on cooking. I only had to pause once when Shia and Dante had instigated another fight with Kyou, but by the time I made it to the living room Hatori had broken it up. Everyone enjoyed the dinner we made, although Yuki accidentally overcooked the pasta slightly. Everyone went about their own business and within a few hours the last person was making their way to bed. I stayed up for a few more hours to get in some raiding on WoW in the game room, and Shia was glued to her PS3 until I turned everything off and made her go to bed.

"We don't wanna be the last ones up tomorrow, that would be rude."

"Yes mom." She joked as we rounded down the hall of bedrooms. We entered our rooms at the end of the hall and whispered goodnight before closing our doors. I changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed, my last thoughts about how much fun this summer was going to be.


	7. Never Wake a Sleeping Dragon

I awoke with a start, nearly smashing my head into the wall next to me. I could hear loud voices out in the hall, though I had no idea who they were. I looked at my phone on the night stand; it read 7:42am. Who the hell was having a fucking shouting match this early!? Rubi should have warned them, but now the whole hall was going to learn why you NEVER wake me up. I tossed aside my blankets and leaped out of bed, throwing open my door with a deafening bang. If I had been more observant, I would have noticed several others with their heads poked out of their doors, but I was only focused on the two boys in the middle of the hall. As soon as they heard my door slam open, they stopped and looked down the hall towards me. I charged towards them, fury evident in my eyes. As I got closer I recognized Kyou and Haru, only I think Haru was looking a bit different than usual.

"What the fuck is your problem!? Do you know what fucking time it is!? I am trying to sleep and so is everyone else! What the hell is wrong with you two!?" They both seemed a bit taken back by my mood, but those brave little fuckers decided to continue their argument.

"I'm TRYING to use the bathroom, but this stupid cow won't let me!"

"I got here first; you can wait your turn!" Haru's voice had a completely different tone to it, but being tired I didn't register it.

"You did not! I got here first! Now go away before I make you!" I had LONG since had enough and punched them both in their faces.

"I don't give a fuck who was here first! There's 3 more fucking bathrooms in this hall! Use a goddamned other one! Now shut the fuck up and quit acting like a couple of two year olds!" I stormed back down to my bedroom, everyone's eyes following me. Before I entered my room I made one last thought.

"If I hear another peep out of ANYONE, I will personally slit all of your throats so you can never talk again!" With that I slammed my door and climbed back under the covers, feeling satisfied.

* * *

I had heard the screaming and thought 'Oh shit. I've gotta stop them fast.' Before I could even make it out of bed though, I already heard Shia slam her door open. I rushed into the hall and witnessed what took place. I just sweat dropped as she stormed into her room and slammed the door again.

"By the way, Shia's not a morning person and she's really mean when you wake her up." I could see Kyou about to retort, but I shushed him before he got the chance. He just rubbed his cheek tenderly where Shia had punched him and grumbled under his breath. I reentered my room and shut my door, getting back in bed. I sighed and rolled onto my side, without a doubt in my mind that this was going to be one hell of a summer.

I woke up again at about 9:30 and decided to get up. I zombied through my morning routine, thankful that I had my own bathroom in my room. Who knows how long I would be waiting otherwise. After I was dressed and ready I was finally awake. I walked across the hall and peeked into Shia's room. Yup, still sleeping. I just left her to sleep a little longer and decided to go downstairs and see who was up. Surprisingly, most of them were up and about. Hiro and Kisa were watching Saturday morning cartoons, and Kagura was playing card games with Momiji. Shigure and Ayame were sitting on a couch with Hatori, who was ignoring their chatter. Haru was joining Kagura and Momiji, and Ritsu was sitting in the bay window looking into the front yard. I had figured that Akito was still feeling ill, and Kureno was probably taking care of him. He seemed to be his caretaker of some sort. It looked as though Isuzu was the classic antisocial, probably alone in her room as well. Kyou and Yuki were nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Kyou and Yuki?" I asked as I approached the trio playing go fish.

"Kyou-kun is outside training, and I think Yuki-kun is still sleeping." Kagura smiled happily.

"Training?"

"Kyou-kun is a skilled martial artist! He practices everyday so that he can become stronger!" I looked to Momiji when he spoke. Was this boy excited about everything? Seriously, he could barely contain himself again bouncing in his seat on the floor.

"I hope you don't mind, we all helped ourselves to some breakfast earlier. We didn't want to wake you." I looked over my shoulder at Shigure.

"Oh that's fine, I'm glad you didn't wait. Besides the way Shia sleeps we would all starve to death if we waited for everyone." Hatori lightly chuckled, never looking up from his book. I turned around to go get some breakfast myself and almost ran into Yuki.

"Oh! Morning Yuki. Sorry, I didn't know you were behind me." No response. "I was just about to make some breakfast. Would you like some?" I became worried just a little bit when he didn't respond. His head was tilted down and from what I could see of his eyes they looked glazed over. "Yuki?"

"Don't worry about him Shirubi-san, he's always like that. He's not very good with mornings. He'll snap out of it as he wakes up." I nodded in understanding; I'm generally the same way.

"Come on Yuki, I'll make you something to eat." A good breakfast always wakes me up, so maybe it'll help him too. I tried walking towards the hall to the kitchen, but he didn't move a muscle. I rolled my eyes and smiled a little to myself, wondering if this is what I was like when I first wake up. I grabbed his hand gently, trying not to startle him, and lead him into the kitchen. I pushed him into a seat at the island counter in the center, and thought about what I should make. Something quick and easy; I'm feeling lazy today. I made each of us a bagel and put some cream cheese on them. I poured us each a glass of orange juice and set his food in front of him. I sat on the only other barstool at the island and began to eat. Thank god the stools have backs or I think Yuki might have actually fallen off. After a few bites I noticed he still hadn't touched his food, only stared at it with unfocused eyes. This guy was even worse than me.

"Yuki, I made you a bagel. Eat up." I saw his eyes come into focus for a moment as he looked at his plate. He said nothing and picked up a half of his bagel, taking a bite. At least he was eating, but his eyes unfocused themselves again. I got up to wash my cup and plate when I was finished, and then turned back around towards Yuki. He seemed a little more awake than before, but still looked sleepy. I stayed in the kitchen with him until he was finished, and I washed his dishes too. I smiled triumphantly to myself; it was my own personal payback for yesterday when he wouldn't let me wash my own plate. I didn't expect to hear him speak as I turned off the water, and jumped a little when he did so.

"Thank you Shirubi-san. I'm sorry you had to see me like that."

"It's fine. I kind of do the same thing, only I think I'm a little more aware of my surroundings." He gave me a small embarrassed smile.

"By the way, you buttoned your shirt wrong." I pointed at his shirt for emphasis. He looked down and sure enough the buttons weren't aligned, and haphazardly done.

"Oh, excuse me." He turned around and fixed his shirt, then turned back around and smiled sheepishly again. "I'm afraid I'm not very good at simple tasks when I first wake up."

I just smiled and laughed a little. I walked past him and back into the living room, Yuki at my heels. I went over to one of the windows and opened it to test the weather. It was sunny and warm, a perfectly gorgeous day. 'I should try and get everyone outside; it would be a shame to waste a day like this indoors.' I enjoyed the gentle warm breeze on my face for a moment longer before turning around and looking back at everyone in the room. I tried to come up with something to do that could get everyone outside, but I drew a complete blank. Crap, Shia was better at this than me. Think Rubi, what can I do with 12 other people outside? After a few minutes I gave up and just decided I'd get them all outside and go from there.

"Hey you guys. It's a beautiful day outside. We should all go and enjoy it." They all looked up at me when I spoke.

"That's a great idea! Let's go outside!" Well I had already guessed Momiji would be easy to persuade.

"And do what exactly?" Hiro spoke up for I think the first time since we went through introductions.

"Who cares, we can figure that out when we get there. It would be a huge shame to stay in on a day like today."

"I agree, it does look lovely outside. Come Gure-san, let us enjoy the weather together!" Ayame stood with a flourish and held his hand out to Shigure.

"I'll go anywhere you go Aya." Shigure grabbed his hand and stood. I just sweat dropped and pretended I couldn't hear them.

"Come on, you guys haven't seen the back yard yet." I walked into the front hall knowing they would all follow. I lead them through a door beside the staircase that led underneath. It was a small hall that led to another door. I opened the next door and stepped outside. I noticed Kyou off to the side sparring with the air. I continued out into the yard and turned around to everyone else.

"Do what you want I suppose, I'm not too good with coming up with activities." They all scattered. Well, that was easy. Hatori sat at the table on the patio and continued reading. Ayame and Shigure found the patio bench swing. Kisa had enticed Kagura, Momiji, Hiro, Yuki, and Haru into a game of hide and seek. Ritsu sat herself next to the small man made pond and looked at the fish. Mission accomplished; I was pretty proud of myself. I looked down at a small tug on my arm, and Kisa asked me to play too. Why not, Yuki and Haru already were.

We took turns being 'it' by who was found first, and I actually had a ton of fun. After I had already been it twice it was Momiji's turn again. We were all about to turn around and hide when we heard the back door open.

* * *

I woke up feeling awesome. I stretched thoroughly and then collapsed back onto my bed, picking up my phone to read the time. It was 11:13. I sighed, laying in my bed for a while and enjoying the laziness. After about a half hour I made myself get up, figuring everyone else probably already was. I changed and whatnot and looked out my open window for the voices I thought I had heard. Everyone was in the yard doing this and that. I saw Hatori reading and smiled, turning from the window and exiting my room. I paused at the end of the hall when I noticed Akito's door open, and he was still inside.

"Akito? What are you doing in here? Everyone else is out back." He turned from his place at the window, and smiled.

"I'm still feeling a bit sick, so I don't think I'll be joining you guys today. Thank you for your concern though." Was it just me or did his smile seem hollow?

"Alright. Do you need anything?"

"No thank you, I'm fine for now."

"Okay, well feel better." I left his doorway and continued down the stairs and out the back door. Everyone froze for a second in their activities, glancing at me. I walked over to where Hatori sat and sat with him.

"Afternoon Nii-san."

"Still waking up at the crack of noon I see." He marked his place in his book and set it on the table. I just smiled smugly, proud of my ability to sleep through the whole day. "You had quite the episode this morning."

"Huh?"

"Kyou-kun and Haru-kun were being loud this morning and woke you up."

"Oh. Uhm, what did I do?" I knew that I could be a beast when woken up, however the un-fun part of it was that I could almost never remember any of it. This was one of those times it seems.

"You chewed them out. Then you punched them in the face and threatened to slit their throats."

"I wish I could remember these things, they would make such great memories. What were they being loud for?"

"If I'm not mistaken they were fighting over one of the bathrooms. It was at about a quarter to eight." I snorted. That was a dumb thing to fight over.

"There are three other bathrooms. I'm sure they weren't all in use that early."

"You pretty much told them that." He smirked a little and gave me a knowing look.

"What? I can't help it if I'm a monster in the mornings. I don't even remember it. Besides, it's what they deserve for waking a sleeping dragon." I returned his smirk.

"Okay you guys, it's lunch time!" Rubi yelled out the back door. I didn't even see her walk past us or go inside.

"Sweet. Come on Nii-san, let's eat." The two of us got up and entered the house behind Ayame and Shigure.


	8. Fort Solitude

Lunch was just simple sandwiches and chips that Yuki helped me prepare. Hey, there are 16 mouths to feed, what can I do? I was just glad that everyone was cleaning up after themselves. If you think making food for 16 is tough, what about the dishes. I shivered at the thought of washing all of those dishes three times a day. Not happening. Afterwards we all went back outside. This time we had talked Akito into at least resting on the patio. Shigure was sitting next to him on the bench swing talking quietly, and Ayame was sitting next to Hatori on the steps chattering away again. Everyone else was playing or relaxing in the yard respectively, but what surprised me was Shia. She was talking to someone that wasn't Hatori. I smirked when I realized it was Haru; I totally called it. I didn't even care why or how, I was just glad. I smiled at Kisa and accepted when she invited me to a game of tag. I had to admit, she was pretty adorable and I couldn't resist when she asked something of me.

* * *

I watched as Haru tormented Kyou all through lunch and smirked to myself. I had a feeling he and I would be GREAT friends. I overheard him teasing Kyou about not being able to beat Yuki in a fight. I tucked that bit of information away for later as possible ammo. We all cleaned up one by one and went back outside. Kyou stomped off to the far end of the yard and sat under a tree, grumbling. I snickered and approached Haru, who was watching Kyou too.

"That was pretty awesome at lunch. Can he really not beat Yuki in a fight?" He nodded.

"He's been trying his entire life to be stronger than Yuki and beat him. He feels that because the cat was tricked by the rat and never made to the banquet, if he beats him he will be accepted as part of the family."

"So he IS the cat. I thought I saw ears and a tail yesterday." He just nodded again as we sat under my favorite willow by the small pond. I waited for any response and when I didn't get any, I pushed on.

"So do you guys really shun the cat from your family?" We sat in silence for a minute as I suppose he was choosing his words carefully.

"Most of the family looks down on him; some don't even acknowledge him as a real family member, just a nuisance." I looked at the fish in the pond and thought about what he said.

"That's pretty harsh. It's not his fault he was born as the cat, just like it's not our fault that we were born with this curse. Maybe it's because we don't directly come from a long line of cursed family members, but we don't treat our cat like that." I looked at Haru but he was looking away and towards where Kyou sat brooding. "Do you feel that way about him? Is he the cursed among the cursed to you?"

"Yes." His answer kind of surprised me. Not that I didn't think he felt that way, but because I didn't expect him to be so blunt about it. "I suppose it's an old family prejudice bred into me. Since birth we were always told that the cat was nothing but a fool, and that he didn't belong. We never knew any different. No one told us we were wrong because everybody did it."

"Kind of like how the rat tricked the ox to let him ride on his back all the way to the banquet, and everyone thought the ox was stupid for that?" I could see that I had struck a chord within him as his eyes widened and he glanced back at me. I had my suspicions that he was the ox, and I just hit the nail on the head. I could almost see the gears turning in his head as he thought about my last words. I stood up to leave and brushed some invisible dirt off my pants.

"I don't think you're stupid at all." Without looking at him I walked away to leave him with his thoughts. I went over to Rubi and the younger kids to see what they were doing now.

"Shia bonded with someone that wasn't Hatori? I think my heart just stopped." I rolled my eyes at Rubi and budged past her to see what the kids were up to.

"Whatever, we were just 'bonding' over our passion for teasing Kyou. What are you guys up to?"

"They wanna play duck, duck, goose. You wanna play with us?"

"Eh, no thanks. I think I'm gonna play some guitar." I turned towards the house and began towards the back door.

"You come back outside you hear? Don't go locking yourself up in your room!" I just waved at her over my shoulder and kept walking. I went up the stairs and into our shared music room, between our studios. I smiled at my guitars that lined the wall to my left.

"Hey babies. Did you miss me?" I looked down the line of my awesome guitars, trying to decide which one to play. My cherry red Gibson SG, standard for any guitar player, gleamed back at me in the sunlight. 'Maybe later, I'd rather not take that one outside.' Next in line was my Gretsch White Falcon. 'Oh no, definitely not. You're staying in here where it's safe.' It seemed to sparkle with life as I stared it down, as though it were willing me to take it. 'Don't try to sweet talk me, because it's not happening. You too PRS, don't give me that look.' I examined the neck where a detailed inlay of a Chinese dragon stretched keys to base. The body was blue, my favorite color. The PRS and the White Falcon were my pride and joy, definitely NOT going outside. You can see where I invested some of my inheritance. It was down to my Washburn Black Knight or my Ibanez Gio. How loud did I want to be? Eh, they were pretty loud out there. I wanted to be able to hear myself play over them so I grabbed my only acoustic and carried it back outside.

I made a direct line for one of the trees in the far back. Reaching the tall oak, I looked up at the platform above me. I smiled to myself slung my Washburn over my shoulder, climbing the uneven planks nailed into the trunk. Upon reaching the top I pushed the hatch open and pulled myself up through the roughly cut hole in the floor. I walked around the small, crude shelter, bringing back memories. Rubi and I had built this together with the help of our uncle ten years ago, and it had become our hideout from the world when we wanted to get away. There wasn't much in it; just a few folding chairs, a small card table, a couple of empty coolers in the corner, and a large plastic bin with blankets and a few miscellaneous items. Rubi and I had decorated it with our own touches. I painted a mural on one wall and she had hung various tapestries, cloths, scarves, and other fabrics from the ceiling and the other walls. One wall was covered in a painting we did together when we had first built it. It was erratic and sloppy but I loved it. It was a reminder of our childhood.

I opened the poorly attached door and stepped out onto the narrow outcrop. There was an attempted railing built around the edges with a break in the middle. We had a rope ladder we kept inside and could throw over to let someone up. I sat at the only space without a rail and pulled my guitar around into my lap. I dug in my pocket for a pick and began to tune. Yes, I do always carry picks in my pocket. Don't judge me. After I had the strings a half step down, I began playing Bulls on Parade. It was an easy song, just to get my fingers warmed up. I scooted back to lean against the wall and played through a few more songs. I'm glad I grabbed my acoustic, because I could still here everyone yelling and screaming from here. I spent the rest of my afternoon up there with my guitar until my phone went off. I sighed heavily, mad at the interruption.

'_Come down here, we're going to have a cookout.'_

I put my phone back in my pocket and strapped my guitar back over my shoulder, reentering the treehouse. I closed the hatch and made my way back down the makeshift ladder. I had a new spring in my step, I loved cookouts. I woke up late, spent the day playing guitar, and this was going to be the perfect ending to a great day.

* * *

After Shia went into the house for her guitar, I sat down to play duck, duck, goose. I let Kisa outrun me when she chose me as the 'goose', and then I picked Momiji. This went on for a while. I had noticed Shia head back towards our treehouse earlier. I wished she would quit acting like such a recluse, because she was far from it. She was a fantastic people person, she just had difficulties getting past that initial barrier into trust. I could tell she felt cornered because of course your family would expect a certain level of trust from you. I hoped this summer would change that about her, she needs to learn that she doesn't have to be so guarded all the time.

After a while of playing, 3pm came around. Yuki and I excused ourselves from the other three. The sun was still high in the sky. I flopped down on my back into the cool grass and Yuki sat next to me.

"Look, a train." I pointed up towards a large cloud that was shaped like the locomotive. Yuki looked up and nodded. He pointed to another group of clouds to the right.

"That one looks like a bear in a tutu."

I laughed at his imagination. It did look like a bear in a tutu though. "A duck with a hula hoop." It was his turn to laugh as I pointed to the far left.

"Shirubi-san, can I ask you a question?"

"Will you stop being so formal?" He just ignored me and continued on with what he was saying.

"What is the head of your family like?"

"Excuse me?"

"The head of your family. With every generation of zodiacs born there is someone who represents the Jade Emperor of the story. They are the head of your family, are they not?"

"We don't really have a family head; that tradition isn't really practiced too much in America. We do have a Jade Emperor figure though. He's actually really nice. I'm sure he'll be by soon as well as the rest of the family." We sat in silence for the next few minutes just watching the patchy clouds roll by, until I broke it with another question. "What's Akito like?" I already had a pretty good idea, but I wanted to hear what he would say. He sighed and laid down next to me, taking his time in answering.

"He means well, but sometimes he can let his anger get the best of him. Sometimes we don't want to be around him, but we can't help but feel that attachment that comes with being a member of the zodiac." I nodded, knowing he was sugar coating things a lot. After a few more minutes of silence again I decided to lighten the mood.

"Ayame is annoying Hatori; look." We both looked at the pair. Hatori was trying his hardest to ignore Ayame who was tugging on his sleeve, irritation written all over his face. Yuki sighed next to me.

"My brother is very overbearing. I apologize for any future torment he may put you through."

"Ayame is your brother? No way." He nodded. "You two are complete polar opposites." I tried to imagine the two of them growing up together. No matter how I thought about it, imagination Yuki and imagination Ayame always ended in disaster. "How do you put up with him?"

"I try to put as much space between him and I as possible." I chuckled at his joke and returned his smile.

"I have an idea for dinner. Would you like to help me prepare?"

"I would love to."

Yuki stood and offered me his hand, which I took. I lead him into the kitchen to check the food supplies. Feeding 16 mouths three times a day really wiped us out of food fast. Yuki voiced my worries before I had a chance to.

"Do we have enough food for dinner?"

"I think so. I was hoping to have a cookout tonight on the grill, and I think we still have plenty of burgers and brats in the freezer." I opened the deep freezer and bingo, jackpot. I filled the sink with warm water and placed the packaged meats in to thaw out. "We're definitely going to need to make a trip to the store tomorrow though, besides cereal this is about all we have left." I pulled a few bags of buns from the bread cabinet and began searching for something to go with it.

"I'll help you tomorrow. I'm sorry we're eating all of your food, it's the least I can do to help."

"Oh no, it would be crazy for me to expect you all not to eat. It's just that Shia is better at foreseeing the smaller things like buying more food, or all of the luggage you would have." I laughed at the last part remembering the almost fiasco in the airport. "However I would very much love your help. We can go after we have breakfast tomorrow." He nodded when I popped back up from behind the counter, happy that I found a few bags of chips that weren't devoured during lunch. I pulled out my phone to text Shia and make her come out of seclusion.

'_Come down here, we're going to have a cookout.'_

That would get her out of that tree. I needed her to help anyways. She isn't much of a cook, but she's better on the grill than I am. Within minutes I heard her come in the house and she appeared in the kitchen. "Hey start the grill up while I find some paper plates."

"Aye aye captain." She went back outside and returned less than a minute later.

Soon we had the food on the grill and then everyone was eating by 7pm. Clean up was easy needless to say and then we all went inside for the evening. Everyone was doing their own thing, so I ran up to my room for my sketch book. I had some new ideas I've wanted to get down for a few days now. I brought it back downstairs and settled into one of the couches. I was so immersed in my sketches I didn't notice the person hanging over my shoulder.

"You design clothing too?"


	9. A Snake is Still A Snake

I jumped at the unexpected voice and turned, almost bumping heads with Ayame. He was leaning over the back of the couch looking down at my sketches.

"Yeah, it's always been a dream of mine to open my own boutique. I've been taking vocational classes for fashion design and merchandising at school." I looked down at the most recent sketch I was working on. It was an elegant gown with beaded embroidery. Ayame rounded the couch and sat beside me, his eyes never leaving my sketchbook.

"Wow, this is beautiful. You're very talented." He continued to examine my sketch, oblivious to the incredulous look I was giving him.

"You really think so? I mean I don't think I'm bad but I'm alright. I'm still in school and I have a lot more to learn." I watched as he wordlessly flipped through previous pages already filled with drawings.

"I think you're very talented. You have a lot of potential. Have you ever created any of these yet?"

"Yeah, I've made almost everything I've drawn." He stopped flipping through my drawings and finally looked up at me.

"Really, may I see them? I would love to see how you brought these to life."

"Sure, I have them up in my studio. Follow me." I picked up my pencils and other tools, but nearly dropped everything again as Ayame leaped off of the couch. I could have sworn his eyes exploded in sparkles.

"You have a studio!?" If I weren't used to Shia's random bursts of excitement by now, I might have been afraid he would spontaneously combust.

"There's an entire hall on the second floor we never showed you in case you didn't notice. Those are our studios and private rooms." I stood and walked into the front hall, Ayame hot at my heels. He caught up and walked beside me as we made our way up the grand staircase. "So I take it you're into fashion design as well?"

"My dear, I own my own boutique in Japan! All of my designs are one of a kind and unique!" He flourished his hands as he said this, as though he were presenting his boutique to me right here.

"Wow, really? What kinds of clothing do you make?" I was truly interested now. Here is a guy living my dream, and he's going to be staying with me for the entire summer. 'Maybe he could help me out and show me how to get started.'

"I make people's dreams come true! I bring their greatest fantasies to life! I-"

"He makes costumes." Yuki passed us on his way down the stairs and entered the conversation.

"They are so much more than that otouto! I inspire people and add color to their drab, boring lifestyles!"

"They're costumes." He continued walking down the staircase, and disappeared from sight into the living room. I looked back at Ayame who was rooted to the landing at the top of the stairs. His face was horrified as he stared at where Yuki had been seconds before. I suppose his description had been a little excessive if they really are costumes, but I had come to expect these sorts of things from him. 'At least now his choice of clothing makes more sense. He probably made them all himself.'

"Well there's nothing wrong with being a costume designer, I'm sure you have a fantastic imagination then. You design your own clothes don't you?" He forgot Yuki entirely and followed me again down the right hall, speaking enthusiastically.

"I do! I find that the clothing in regular stores doesn't quite suit me, it's all so boring. So I make my own! What do you think?" He did a little twirl as we reached the third door down the hall, and I laughed while fishing for my keys.

"I don't think it's quite for me, but you make it look fantastic." I found the correct key to my studio and unlocked the door, turning on the lights. I heard Ayame gasp behind me. I stood to the side and let him in. He did a 360, looking around the entire room with a squeal. Wait, what? I had come to expect many strange and awkward things from Ayame, but a SQUEAL? It took all my willpower to cover my mouth and suppress laughter.

"It's nothing special, but it gets the job done." He whirled around when I spoke and was on top of me in seconds.

"Nothing special, this is fabulous! You're so incredibly lucky! I wish I had a studio like this when I was younger!" He continued to google at everything. It really wasn't that great. It was a decent size, and a complete mess. There were shelves upon shelves lining the walls filled with spools of fabric I had bought for one thing or another. To the left facing the door was a large rectangular table with a sewing machine on it. Behind that was a cabinet of drawers filled with thread, needles, and other miscellaneous sewing tools. On the other side of the room were two clothing racks almost full with all of the outfits I had ever made. I had pieces of fabric scattered everywhere and a few mannequins half dressed. Some had parts of outfits pinned and half sewn, others had fabrics draped over them. My table had scraps of fabric piled at one end thread still in the bobbin of my sewing machine. Pins, needles, and a pair of scissors were strewn all across it. Ayame locked his gaze on the clothing racks and scurried to them.

"Wonderful! This is the one in the beginning of your sketch book!" He sifted through the clothing, pulling out a few pieces.

"Yeah, that's from my freshman year. I was still learning the basics so it kind of sucks."

"It's not that bad for a beginner. Oh! I like this one!" He pulled from another rack an outfit I had done my sophomore year.

"That was for my sophomore year fashion show. I actually took second place for that one." I knew he would like that one. It was something he would probably wear. It was a pants and shirt combo with a jacket. The pants were jeans and the pattern was half and half. The right leg was tan and black leopard print, and the other was black and while zebra print. The shirt was a black blouse with silver embroidery and the jacket was modeled after a suit jacket. The left half was the same leopard print as the right leg, and the right half was almost black with while pinstripes. The back panel of the jacket was very dark blue jean, with 'Japanese Zombie Heroez' embroidered across it in silver thread.

"Too bad it's cut for a woman, I would love to try this out. A SHORT woman at that." I laughed a little.

"Shia was my model. She was the one that inspired me to make this in the first place. I was kind of in a rut and didn't know what to do. With the show so near and not even having a sketch down, she tried to help. It was mostly her idea with the animal prints and the half and half mode. That got me started though and I added all the details. The black cuffs at the bottom of the pants, the shirt and jacket embroidery, extending the blouse sleeves so the cuffs would fold over the jacket. The alternated leopard and pinstripe jacket collar."

"This is definitely different that the rest of your designs."

"Yeah I was definitely out of my comfort zone, Shia and I have very opposing tastes. I think it was good though. I surprised everyone, including my teachers. They said it was good to show some diversity."

"Indeed, it is the mark of a great designer when you can take someone else's ideas and grow on them, creating an individual masterpiece." I smiled at him. He could become very serious and focused when it came to fashion. Maybe he's better than I gave him credit for. I went over to my table and sat down, opening my sketchbook again. Ayame grabbed the other chair I was previously using as a step stool and sat down next to me.

"What colors are you going to use?" He was referring to my most recent drawing of the dress I had in front of me once more.

"I was thinking a soft, medium dark blue with violet beads for the embroidery. What do you think?" He just nodded and I started adding the aforementioned colors. Within minutes I was done and I turned it towards him so he could have a better look.

"Beautiful! Let's start right now!" He leaped out of his chair and started searching my walls for the correct fabric.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Let's?" I gave him an inquiring look. He just stared back at me with puppy dog eyes.

"Well, I was hoping you would let me help you. It's been at least a week since I've sewn anything. Surely you can understand what that's like." He continued the sad look.

"Are you kidding!? Of course you can help!" I was ecstatic. I could learn so much from him and get way ahead in my classes. This was a one in a million chance, and I was not about to pass up the opportunity to work with a professional living in my own home.

We got to work pulling possible fabrics and debating stitch patterns. Time flew all evening and before we knew it, it was 2am. We decided to stop for the night and get to bed. Turning off the lights and locking up, I decided to check and see if anyone else was still up. Ayame said goodnight when we reached the stairs and left for his room. I made my way downstairs to the living room and smiled at the scene before me. The lights were off and the menu screen for _The Forbidden Kingdom _was replaying music. There were only two people in the room. Shia was passed out on the couch, and Kyou was sprawled out over a recliner. I just smiled and turned off the TV, not bothering to move them. I went back upstairs to my room. The hall was quiet and all the lights were off except for Akito's room. As soon as I entered my room I flopped down on my bed, not bothering to change. As I neared the edge of unconsciousness, one last thought crossed my mind.

'Did I just get along with Ayame!?'


	10. I Just Can't Resist

**Who saw How To Train Your Dragon!? I did! Twice! In 3D! Night Fury references, kudos if you catch them!**

**Thank you to Cherry-Anne ****Sponge and Kathy Ann for reviewing! Reviews motivate me to update sooner!**

I woke with a start. I had been running from Kyou, who was threatening my life. Not that I didn't deserve it, I would threaten someone's life too if I woke up to them drawing on my face with a sharpie, but that's beside the point. As soon as he saw my 'art' in his reflection in the window, he had leapt off the recliner and began to run me down with inhuman speed. I was diving under, between, and around anything and everything for the chance to put a little more distance between he and I, but it wasn't really working. I had reached the front door and nearly ripped it off its hinges to get outside. I didn't realize until it was too late. I couldn't stop my feet as I leapt off the steps and fell into the abyss below. The fright and the weightless feeling in my stomach had shocked me back into consciousness.

That's when I realized I was on the floor. 'What a weird ass dream.' I looked around and noticed I was in the living room, and had rolled off the couch. 'That explains the falling part.' I stood up and stretched. The lights and television were off, and I remembered falling asleep watching _The Forbidden Kingdom _with Kyou. He became immersed in the martial arts and attached himself to the recliner where he now slept.

With a clean face.

I was sorely tempted, but then my dream would really come true and I would really fall into the abyss. I glanced out the window and noticed a pink hue to the horizon. 'Crap. I gotta get back to sleep.' Once I saw sunlight, I was pretty much screwed. I can't fall back asleep after that. 'Thank god I have heavy drapes in my room.' I left the living room and ascended the staircase with a yawn. My back ached a little, but that's what happens when you crash on the couch. I entered my room and flopped onto my bed, relishing in the comfort. Within seconds I was sleeping again.

The next time I woke up was much better. No scary falls into eternal darkness, no real falls off the couch, and my comfortable bed and dark room. I stretched again and laid out on my bed lazily, as was my morning routine. I reached for my phone and saw it read 10:42am. Sweet, I never got up before double digits anyways. I gave myself another few minutes to mentally prepare myself, and then got up. I hope we didn't all have to hang out today; I wanted to get back to those windmills. I turned on my stereo, as was my customary signal to Rubi that I was up. Ah P.O.D, perfect wake up music. I dressed in a pair of torn up jeans, distressed by yours truly, and a Slipknot t-shirt. Eyeliner, eyeshadow, and mascara, done. I combed my hair and left it down for the moment, and put on all my jewelry. It was time. I walked over to my window and braced myself, throwing open the curtains. The bright sunlight burned for a moment until I adjusted. I popped my window open to feel the amazing warm weather. I turned off my stereo and exited my room, looking for everyone else.

On my way down the hall I could hear and see a few people still in their rooms. I went downstairs and saw some of them playing video games in the living room, so I went into the kitchen for some food. Shigure was digging in the fridge humming something about high school girls and Hatori was at the island reading the paper with a cup of coffee.

"Morning nii-san." I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat next to him. He didn't say anything, but it's okay, I was used to it.

"Geez, would you like some coffee with your sugar?" I gave Kyou a flat look as he entered, commenting on the copious amounts of sugar I was adding to my coffee.

"Occasionally, but not today." I ignored the irritated and mildly disgusted stare he threw at me and continued to mix my cup of liquid sugar. I sat down next to Hatori and taste tested my drink just as Rubi came in.

"There you are. Yuki and I are going grocery shopping, so we'll be out for a few hours. I need you to stay here with everyone." I rolled my eyes, I didn't wanna babysit.

"I'm sure they're all capable of watching themselves, they're big kids."

"Shia don't be rude, you know what I meant. You don't just leave people alone in a foreign house in a foreign country. Stay here with them. Is there anything you wanted while I'm out?" I thought about it for a few moments. I could sure use a few of my favorite foods.

"Tatertots please."

"Do you need any wings?"

"No there's still some left in the freezer, but could you pick up a bottle of Frank's Red Hot while you're out? I'm nearly out of that." She added the items to her list with a sigh.

"One day you're gonna crap lava I swear." I nearly spit out my coffee flavored sugar and choked on a laugh.

"No way! I'm a fire breathing dragon!" She shook her head at me and chuckled a little.

"Whatever. Just stay here with them, and BE NICE." She turned and left the kitchen, and I heard the front door shut as she and Yuki left.

'No habla ingles.'

* * *

I sighed as we pulled back into the driveway. We had just spent nearly five hours shopping for copious amounts of food. 'I hope there's enough room in the fridge for all of this.' The entire trunk and backseat of the SUV I had taken was full of groceries. Yuki and I got out of the car and grabbed a few bags from the backseat.

"Thank you again for helping me, I don't know what I would have done if I had to carry all of this alone."

"It's not a problem Shirubi-san, it was my pleasure."

I was about to argue back about the formality of my name, but all thoughts flew out the window when we entered the house. I nearly dropped the bags in my hands at the sight of Haa-san in the entrance hall restraining Shia and a flustered Shigure trying to separate Kyou and Haru. The three were exchanging not to friendly banter between them and Shia was fighting for her freedom. Although why Kyou and Haru were completely drenched was beyond me. I knew she could escape Haa-san's grip though if she REALLY wanted to, she had a soft spot for him and usually obeyed his commands.

"What the hell is going on!?" They all froze and looked at me. "I can't even leave for a few hours to buy us food without a fight breaking out! Explain yourselves, now!" The two boys wordlessly looked at each other, then pointed at Shia. I let out a frustrated growl.

"I thought I told you to be NICE!"

"No habla ingles."

"Oh but you can 'habla ingles' when you want hot sauce!? That's convenient!" Shia shrugged at me.

"I only know certain words."

I nearly screamed. 'Breathe Rubi, you should be used to her crap by now. Just let it go.' I huffed and marched towards the kitchen. "You are SUCH an instigator!" I didn't bother to look back as I said this, knowing that Shia wouldn't care anyways. Yuki approached the counter next to me and set his bags down with a small sweat drop. As we made our way back outside, I decided to put the trouble makers to work.

"You three, outside. You're carrying the groceries in. NOW!" I added the last part when they only continued to stare at me. They each dragged their feet out the door slowly, grumbling all the way.

"Oh no you don't have to do anything else Yuki, you've already done more than enough." He paused in his way back towards the car.

"Really it's no trouble at all."

"Yuki, stay. They need to learn their lesson anyways." I gave myself a satisfied smile as they each carried bags in one by one, refusing to look at each other. "Well, Kyou and Haru might learn their lesson." Yuki gave me a slightly exasperated look as I vocalized my afterthought. "There's no hope for Shia. She just does what she wants." Yuki and I stood inside the door, supervising the three so that they wouldn't start fighting again. It took a good twenty minutes, but everything was inside. They were each about to go their separate ways when I stopped them.

"Ah ah, don't think that that's it, you're putting them all away too." The three glared at me. Did Haru look a little different? I put it to the back of my mind as they began to unpack everything and continue to ignore each other. I instructed Kyou and Haru where everything went as they worked and soon everything was put away.

"Perfect, thanks guys, I couldn't have done it without you!" I exited the kitchen with a smile on my face and a spring in my step, imagining the looks on their faces at my take on sarcasm.

* * *

I plopped down onto the couch, and left my feet to hang over the arm. No one else was in the room with me, but I would be surprised if there were. This room wasn't included in the tour and was only accessible through the library. The door was in the back and hardly noticeable unless you were either very observant or looking for it. It blended in with the wood paneling of the room and was a sliding door rather than hinged, so the handle was just a small metal plated notch.

The den was kept as exclusive knowledge because it contained many personal items as well as memories. This was the room Rubi and I would always spend time with our parents in, and we weren't quite ready for anyone to invade this space just yet. I just wanted to chill away from everyone else for a while, so I came in here to hide out. I closed my eyes and thought back to today's earlier 'festivities'.

Everything was fine for a while after Rubi left; everyone was minding their own business and leaving me alone. I had been just chillin in the living room reading a book all afternoon. I thought it would be a good chance to sneak away into my studio for a while, but being me I got into trouble instead. I was just about to stand and leave after another one of those 'got milk' commercials, when Haru walked in. Sometimes I wonder if I've got some form of turrets with the way I compulsively insult people.

"Hey Haru, got milk?" I failed to notice the look in his eyes as I began laughing at my own joke. I moved to stand closing my book mid laugh, but got pushed back down. I abruptly stopped laughing and gave the boy a bewildered look as he climbed on top of my lap.

"Would you really like to know? I can show you if you like." He whispered in my ear. I began to panic about the close proximity and pushed him off of me. He landed on the floor with a loud thud and I stood.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Don't touch me!" I stormed out into the hall, wondering what the fuck that was all about. It was my lucky day, I ran straight into Kyou.

"Hey watch where you're going!" I scowled at his rudeness, even though I would have said the same thing.

"How about you watch where I'M going?" I smirked; I could almost see the hair on his head bristling with annoyance.

"That's ridiculous why would I watch where you're going!? YOU watch where you're going!"

"Eh, nah, I'd rather not. Then I would miss out on these lovely conversations with you!" Some girls preferred diamonds, but sarcasm was definitely my best friend. I continued enjoying his apparent irritation.

"Just stay out of my way!" He circled around me brushing my shoulder and headed towards the living room. I turned and watched him as Haru emerged, blocking his path. There was definitely something different in his eyes, I could see it now.

"Why can't everybody just stay out of my way!? Move you stupid cow!" He tried to push past Haru but he stood there strong as a steel door. Oh boy, here comes a fight. Of course I couldn't let any fight go by without including myself, so I laughed, I laughed a lot.

"What are you laughing about you crazy woman!?" I just ignored him and kept on laughing, especially when I saw the ears and tail come out. I stopped when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my torso and a finger tilting my chin upwards.

"She's laughing at you, obviously. Stupid cat." I pushed Haru to the ground again, thoroughly creeped out.

"Dude! What the fuck is up with you and the lack of understanding personal space!? No touchie!" It was Kyou's turn to laugh as Haru glared up at him from the floor. The two seemed to lock in on each other, and I took the opportunity to quickly sneak away. Oh man, I was going to get in so much trouble, but I just couldn't resist. I grabbed my super soaker from my room and was happy to find that it still had plenty of water in it. I lightly padded back towards the staircase and kneeled behind the railing at the landing. The two were arguing and didn't seem to notice yet that I was missing. I took my aim and shot at the pair, ducking back down behind the banister before they had a chance to react.

"What the hell!? Where did the water come from!?" Kyou was particularly pissed because cats don't generally like water, and I could see he was no exception. I smiled and had to restrain myself from laughing out loud. It would only be a matter of minutes before my location was found out, but I would have my fun until then. I kept peeking over the rail and shooting at them when they turned their backs to me. That's how I battled. I never show myself, and I NEVER miss. The only way to really tell is if you listen carefully, you might be able to hear me sneaking up on you. With one last squirt they caught on that I was at the top of the stairs and I booked it for the front door, abandoning my weapon. No way in hell was I about to get cornered at one of the dead ends upstairs. The pair chased me across the hall as soon as I reached the bottom and I was almost home free, until I pulled on the door and discovered it was locked.

"Shit!" before I even had the chance to turn around, I was grabbed by the collar of me shirt and pulled around to face two angry sets of eyes.

"Eh heh, hey guys, what's up?" I smiled a futile grin, I was going down. I wasn't sure about Haru, but Kyou was one hell of a fighter. It almost made me afraid to see how much better Yuki was. I weighed my odds and decided to throw a cheap shot at the bigger threat in the chance I might be able to get away. I swept my leg behind Kyou's and brought his feet out from under him. What I had neglected to factor in was his hold on my collar, bringing me down with him. He rolled on top of me and drew his fist back for a punch, but lucky me I did have a decent amount of fighting experience and was able to block it. His weight was thrown off me when Haru landed a swift kick to his side.

"You don't hit a girl you moron!" Kyou was up quicker than lightning and was inches away from Haru when I thought it would be brilliant to body slam him. This was about the point where Hatori and Shigure had entered from the back door, and broke up the party. Haa-san grabbed me around my torso, pinning my arms to my sides in the process. Shigure stood in Kyou's path he had begun towards me, but quickly switched to being a barrier between him and Haru after another 'stupid cat' comment. Seconds after all of this went down, in walks Rubi. Damnit. Couldn't she just take two more freakin minutes?

I sighed to myself and smiled deviously. I don't fully understand why I do the things I do, but I had a lot of fun doing them so I wasn't in any rush to care. I just can't resist, I live for causing trouble.


	11. Sonic

**Author's Note: I know you all missed me! How have my faithful readers been? I apologize for the delay. My second job I pick up every summer had every last drop of my free time. Thankfully it's fall (My favorite season) and that free time has been returned to me!**

**I would like to thank ai12love and Morgane La Fay for reviewing while I was out; your requests for me to continue gave me great motivation.**

**I would ESPECIALLY like to thank Kathy-Ann and Cherry-Anne Sponge, my two most faithful readers. Knowing that you both keep up with my story gives me the motivation to write everyday even when I feel like I'm blocked. I again apologize for the wait, I hope the two of you will continue to read and review. I really appreciate the devotion you two give to me and my story. Thank you.**

**Here you are, the long awaited Chapter 11!**

The next evening was relatively peaceful, and by peaceful I mean no bodily harm had yet been inflicted upon anyone. I had just hung up the phone and went into the living room where everyone seemed to enjoy lounging in the afternoons.

"Hey you guys, were going to have dinner guests tonight. They should be here within the hour."

"More family, Shirubi-san?"

"Shirubi and yes. Murphy and his son Seamus will be joining us, as well as Dorinda and Dante." I heard Shia say 'Yes!' over to my left where she was reading with Hatori in a large chair.

"Are they zodiac?" Akito had finally decided to join us today, and I remembered he never met Dorinda or Dante yet as well.

"Dorinda isn't, but her son Dante is the tiger. Murphy isn't either, however Seamus is the cat."

"Hear that Kyou? I just hope he's more well-mannered than you are."

* * *

The whole family stared with surprise; no one had actually expected Yuki's insult to be so true.

"I'm very pleased to meet all of you." Seamus smiled politely at everyone, despite the staring.

"You're the cat? But you're so nice." Momiji. Sweet, curious Momiji. Sometimes I wondered if he ever thought about the consequences of his words. Not that I'm not just as blunt, but I do it because I'm rude.

"What's that supposed to mean you little runt!" Kyou brained him and the boy instantly began the crocodile tears.

"Waaaa! Rubi, Kyou's being mean!" Shirubi just sighed; I could practically hear her screaming in her head. 'Why can't we ever have ONE peaceful day in this house!'

"Please excuse us, we haven't had a very fine example of the cat over the years." Yuki glanced over at Kyou saying this, who bristled and hissed back at him. Dante and I snickered. God, I loved my new family, they were a constant source of entertainment.

"This is Akito, the head of our family." I think that was the first time I heard Kureno speak. He gestured to the shorter man at his side and everyone else fell silent.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He offered a smile that never reached his eyes and nothing else.

"Well, dinner is done if we all would proceed into the dining room." Shirubi ushered everyone out of the front hall and into said room.

"So, what are we having for dinner tonight?"

"Seamus, you know everytime you come over we have your favorite." I froze at Shirubi's words, then pulled a quick 180 and began my way back towards the hall.

"Just where do you think you're going young lady?" God damnit Seamus, always the one to call me out.

"To find something edible to eat." I was hoping if I didn't look back, I might just make it. I felt my feet leave solid floor and I was no longer gaining ground.

Nope.

Seamus had me by the waist and was carrying me back towards the table. Don't let his charm and grace fool you; he's a sly, evil little fucker. I am entirely convinced that his mission in life is to do everything in his power to make me miserable. I began to squirm violently and 'accidentally' kicked him in the shins. Using his moment of weakness as opportunity, I escaped and bolted for the door. I ran across the lawn and dove into my car. It was moments like these I was proud of myself for being too lazy to put my car in the garage around back. I revved the engine and honked my horn in impatience. Finally I saw Dante sprint out of the house, Shirubi at his heels with a frying pan. I opened the passenger side door and he leaped into the seat. He closed the door as I put it in reverse and nearly peeled out. I watched in my rear view at the diminishing shadow of my sister jumping up and down at the curb and brandishing her weapon.

"Dude, she almost had you that time."

"Well if SOMEONE had used the SIGNAL, I would have been more prepared to bolt." Dante shot back at me. I just smiled at him.

"My bad, I got caught off guard by the surprise 'dinner'. Blegh." I shuttered at the thought of eating that crap.

"You know everytime he comes over your sister makes it for him."

"Yeah, well…" I had nothing. He was right, she did. I knew it; I just didn't think that part through when she had announced his arrival an hour ago.

"So where are we going for food?"

"Idonno, where do you wanna go?" I didn't really care, as long as it was tasty.

"Sonic?"

"Oh hell yeah."

* * *

I tried my best to stay calm as I walked back inside. 'Breathe Shirubi, just breathe nice and slow.' I noticed everyone staring at me and just smiled in return.

"Well, no use crying over spilled milk, let's eat!" everyone sat down around the table and I went into the kitchen to grab the food.

"What was HER problem?" Hiro asked me as I reentered the dining room.

"She didn't wanna eat with us because she hates-"

"LEEKS!" Kyou hissed at the large pot as I set it on the table.

"Yes, it's Seamus' favorite."

"Thank you again Shirubi, I appreciate the thought you always give me." I smiled at Seamus, at least SOME people were appreciative.

"I'm not eating this crap!" Kyou stood from the table and stormed up the stairs. I just sighed, and looked around the table daring anyone else to walk out on dinner. Everyone seemed to be alright with the food selection though and dug in.

* * *

I lay back on the roof and looked at the stars. Or at least that's what one would think, I was really fuming and venting to myself.

'Why the hell did we have to have leeks for dinner! Damnit, I guess I'm going to bed hungry tonight. Why did I even have to come with everyone to this stupid place anyways! In this stupid country with these insane people. What the hell is wrong with that Shia girl anyways! She really pisses me off. I can't go one god damned day without her bothering me. She's so stupid.' I huffed to myself and looked at the bracelet on my arm. I didn't see one on that Seamus guy, I guess he got lucky. Everyone seems to like him too. 'I really am an outcast. Only me.' I stayed there the rest of the night. I heard the crazy chick pull back into the driveway, and the chaos that followed shortly inside. I heard everyone go to bed one by one until I was pretty sure they were all asleep before I crawled back over the edge and into my window.

I didn't expect the small bag of food that was left on my desk. One word was scrawled across the front in colorful lettering.

'Sonic'.


	12. My Precious Foot

**Authors Note: Thank you to Cherry-Anne Sponge, Kathy Ann, and Morgane La Fay for the reviews! This chapter is a little short because I'm working on rewriting another story!**

_Pat pat pat thud_

_Shuffle shuffle stamp_

"Hmm, hm hm, huh huh uh, uh uh!"

_~BABY DON'T WORRY, YOU ARE MY ONLY~_

_Patter patter patter_

'_Leap!' Thud_

_~YOU WON'T BE LONELY, EVEN IF THE SKY IS FALLING DO-~_

"AAARRGH! SHIT!"

I fell to the floor flailing like a two year old. What the hell did I just step on!

"Ow, ow, ow, owie!"

I was afraid to look. One of the few (very few) things that made me squirm were foot wounds. I took a deep breath and prepared myself before turning my foot over.

"RUBIIIIIII!" I heard the small stampede up the stairs. Figures. I scream for one person and six more follow. I watched as my sister peaked the stairs, followed by Yuki (go figure), Shigure, Kagura (dragging Kyou), Aya, and Haru.

"What! What happened!" I glared at her and lifted my foot a bit to show her the sewing needle sticking out of my foot.

"Is that all? Thank god I thought you were shot or something."

"RUBI! Your stupid needle is in my precious foot! I could have died!"

"It wouldn't have killed you, quit being a drama queen. Just pull it out!"

"I can't! It hurts!" I pouted and looked back down at my foot. My precious, darling foot. All I was doing was dancing down the hallway with my headphones on, but can I do that in this house? No, of course not.

"Look come here it's not that hard."

"Don't touch it!" I growled and snapped at her. "I can't look at it, ugh!" I stretched my leg out and put the needle out of view. Shirubi sighed and rolled her eyes at me.

"I'll go get Hatori." She walked back downstairs and left me on the landing with everyone else staring at me.

"What!"

"Are you alright Shia?" Shigure needs to mind his own business.

"I'm fine!"

"Oh no Shia are you going to be okay? How are you going to dance again?" I twitched at Kagura's new proximity, which happened to be too close and therefore in my bubble.

"By standing back up and dancing?" Is she really dense or what? I put my finger on her forehead and pushed her back to a comfortable distance. Everyone was still standing around staring at me.

"What are you looking at! Seriously don't you have other things to do!" Everyone one by one dispersed and left me to pout on the second floor landing. I flopped back on the floor and stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore the pain in my foot.

"She was prancing around the halls again and stepped on a sewing needle. Now she's being a big baby and won't take it out."

"You know she doesn't like things stuck in her feet, it makes her squeamish." I looked up as Rubi and Haa-san ascended the stairs and sat back up.

"Haa-san, Rubi left one of her evil needles in the hallway for my innocent foot to step on!" I looked at him with fake watery eyes.

"Oh please I probably dropped it the other night."

"Shia, knock it off. Let me see your foot." Haa-san kneeled in front of me and I raised my foot for him to see. He sighed and I held my breath as he reached for the needle. He plucked it out, accompanied by my squeak, and examined the damage.

"It's nothing, you'll be fine. Though you may feel a slight pain for a day or two until it heals. I would suggest no more dancing at the very least, just for tonight." My eyes probably popped out of their sockets like they do in cartoons.

"No more dancing! Wha-"

"There will be no arguing young lady, enough dancing for today."

"But Haa-san!" I whined and gave my best pout.

"We've been here at least two weeks now and you and I haven't really spent much time together. How would you like to keep me company the rest of the day? I've missed you." God damnit. He always knows EXACTLY what to say. I swear he could convince me to throw myself off of the Sears Tower. I sigh my defeat and take his offered hand.

* * *

I watch Hatori and Shia walk downstairs hand in hand. Good, she needed some Hatori time. It'll put her into a better than normal mood for a day or two, which is an added bonus for me because she's a lot less likely to instigate the apocalypse. I bent down and picked up the forgotten sewing needle on the floor.

'Whoops.' Oh well, what's done is done. Someone was bound to step on it eventually, better Shia then the rest of the family. (Don't tell her I told you that) I walked down the hall to my studio and put it back with the rest of my sewing needles where it belonged. On my way back downstairs I almost literally ran into Shigure. He was so absorbed in the book he was reading he didn't even notice me dodge around him. I was going to say something to him about manners but then I decided against it and just kept walking. I decided to check up on the younger ones. On my way to the backyard I paused at the back door.

Was someone crying?


End file.
